To thy
fatherly
protection, O Lord, I commend this family.
Macaulay
=26= 26. =Ben. = The eighteenth-century Johnson has been followed by
the nineteenth-century critics in putting a high estimate on the Jonson
who wrote _Every Man in His Humor_. We are told that Shakspere took
one of the parts in this play, acted in 1598. If you are not satisfied
with the account in _The Century Dictionary_, or with any encyclopædia
article, see _The English Poets_, edited by T. H. Ward, Vol. II (The
Macmillan Company).
=26= 33-34. =Æschylus, Euripides, Sophocles. = Three great contemporary
Greek tragedians.
=27= 3. =Fletcher. = Point out why an editor of Shakspere's plays should
be familiar with the work of this group of Elizabethan dramatists.
=27= 11. =Royal Academy. = "His Majesty having the preceding year [1768]
instituted the Royal Academy of Arts in London, Johnson had won the
honour of being appointed Professor in Ancient Literature. "--Boswell.
Goldsmith was Professor in Ancient History in the same institution, and
Boswell was Secretary for Foreign Correspondence. Look in _The Century
Dictionary_ under _academy_, the third meaning, and recall whatever you
may have heard or read about the French Academy.
=27= 12. =the King. = "His Majesty expressed a desire to have the
literary biography of this country ably executed, and proposed to Dr.
Johnson to undertake it. "--Boswell. Read Boswell's account of the
interview. In consulting the index look under _George III. _
=27= 22. =colloquial talents. = Madame d'Arblay once said that Johnson
had about him more "fun, and comical humour, and love of nonsense" than
almost anybody else she ever saw.
=28= 23. =Goldsmith. = Macaulay's article on Goldsmith in _The
Encyclopædia Britannica_ is short, and so thoroughly readable that
there is no excuse for not being familiar with it. Boswell is
continually giving interesting glimpses of Dr. Oliver Goldsmith, and
by taking advantage of the index in the _Life of Johnson_ one may in
half an hour learn a great deal about this remarkable man. According
to Boswell, "he had sagacity enough to cultivate assiduously the
acquaintance of Johnson, and his faculties were gradually enlarged by
the contemplation of such a model. "
=28= 24. =Reynolds. = We can learn from short articles about Sir
Joshua's career, but the index to Boswell's _Johnson_ will introduce
us to the good times the great portrait painter had with the great
conversationalist whom we are studying. Reynolds was the first proposer
of the Club, and "there seems to have been hardly a day," says Robina
Napier, "when these friends did not meet in the painting room or in
general society. " Ruskin says, "Titian paints nobler pictures and
Vandyke had nobler subjects, but neither of them entered so subtly as
Sir Joshua did into the minor varieties of human heart and temper. "
The business of his art "was not to criticise, but to observe," and
for this purpose the hours he spent at the Club might be as profitable
as those spent in his painting room. It will be interesting to make a
list of some of the most notable "subjects" Reynolds painted. --=Burke. =
Be sure to read Boswell's account of the famous Round Robin. It
will make you feel better acquainted with Burke, Johnson, Reynolds,
and Goldsmith. The student will find valuable material in Professor
Lamont's edition of Burke's _Speech on Conciliation with America_,
published by Ginn & Company.
=28= 25. =Gibbon. = You noticed on the _Round Robin_ the autograph of
the author of _The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_?
=28= 26. =Jones. = Sir William Henry Rich Jones was "the first English
scholar to master Sanskrit, and to recognize its importance for
comparative philology," says _The Century Dictionary_.
=29= 9. =Johnson's Club. = The Club still flourishes. Both Scott and
Macaulay belonged to it.
=29= 14. =James Boswell. = "Out of the fifteen millions that then lived,
and had bed and board, in the British Islands, this man has provided us
a greater _pleasure_ than any other individual, at whose cost we now
enjoy ourselves; perhaps has done us a greater _service_ than can be
specially attributed to more than two or three: yet, ungrateful that
we are, no written or spoken eulogy of James Boswell anywhere exists;
his recompense in solid pudding (so far as copyright went) was not
excessive; and as for the empty praise, it has altogether been denied
him. Men are unwiser than children; they do not know the hand that
feeds. "
So Carlyle writes of the man; the book, he says, is "beyond any other
product of the eighteenth century"; it draws aside the curtains of the
Past and gives us a picture which changeful Time cannot harm or hide.
The picture charms generation after generation because it is true. "It
is not speaking with exaggeration, but with strict measured sobriety,
to say that this Book of Boswell's will give us more real insight into
the _History of England_ during those days than twenty other Books,
falsely entitled 'Histories,' which take to themselves that special
aim. . . . The thing I want to see is not Redbook Lists, and Court
Calendars, and Parliamentary Registers, but the LIFE OF MAN in England:
what men did, thought, suffered, enjoyed; the form, especially the
spirit, of their terrestrial existence, its outward environment, its
inward principle; _how_ and _what_ it was; whence it proceeded, whither
it was tending. . . .
"Hence, indeed, comes it that History, which should be 'the essence of
innumerable Biographies,' will tell us, question it as we like, less
than one genuine Biography may do, pleasantly and of its own accord! "
Mr. Leslie Stephen says that "Macaulay's graphic description of
his absurdities, and Carlyle's more penetrating appreciation of his
higher qualities, contain all that can be said"; but the more recent
testimony of Dr. George B. Hill, in _Dr. Johnson, His Friends and His
Critics_, should count for something. Dr. Hill points out that while
Macaulay grants Boswell immortality he refuses him greatness, and calls
attention to what he considers elements of greatness. In regard to the
accuracy of a biographer who would "run half over London, in order to
fix a date correctly," he says: "That love, I might almost say that
passion for accuracy, that distinguished Boswell in so high a degree
does not belong to a mind that is either mean or feeble. Mean minds are
indifferent to truth, and feeble minds can see no importance in a date. "
=29= 27. =Wilkes. = John Wilkes, a notorious politician, was imprisoned
for writing an article in which he attacked George the Third. The
liberty of the press was involved and Wilkes was released, much to
the delight of the people. For a brief summary of the Bill of Rights,
see Brewer's _Historic Note-book_ or _A Handbook of English Political
History_, by Acland and Ransome.
=29= 29. =Whitfield. = Macaulay's short sentence implies, does it not,
that Whitfield (or Whitefield) was a noisy, open-air preacher among the
Calvinistic Methodists? In testing the accuracy of this inference in
_The Encyclopædia Britannica_ or in Franklin's _Autobiography_, note in
what countries Whitefield preached, and where he died. Boswell quotes
Johnson's opinion of Whitefield in two places.
=29= 30. =In a happy hour. = May 16, 1763. By all means read Boswell's
account of the rough reception he received and the persistence
necessary to secure the fastening.
=31= 14. =pity . . . esteem. = The Thrales were not alone in overlooking
these oddities. "His tricks and contortions, a subject for pity not
ridicule," says Mr. Hoste, "were ignored by the celebrated wits and
beauties who visited him in his gloomy 'den,' and by the duchesses and
other distinguished ladies who gathered 'four and five deep' around him
at fashionable assemblies, hanging on his sentences, and contended for
the nearest places to his chair. "
=31= 15. =Southwark. = South of the commercial center of London and
across the Thames.
=31= 16. =Streatham. = About five miles southwest of London City.
The Southwark apartment was in a commercial district; the Streatham
apartment in a thinly settled residential suburb.
=31= 34. =Maccaroni. = See _The Century Dictionary_ or Brewer's
_Handbook of Phrase and Fable_.
=32= 21. =Levett. = Of Levett, Goldsmith said to Boswell, "He is poor
and honest, which is recommendation enough to Johnson. "
=32= 30. =the Mitre Tavern. = "The Mitre Tavern still stands in Fleet
Street: but where now is its Scot-and-lot paying, beef-and-ale
loving, cock-hatted, potbellied Landlord; its rosy-faced, assiduous
Landlady, with all her shining brass-pans, waxed tables, well-filled
larder-shelves; her cooks, and bootjacks, and errand-boys, and
watery-mouthed hangers-on? Gone! Gone! The becking waiter, that with
wreathed smiles was wont to spread for Samuel and Bozzy their 'supper
of the gods,' has long since pocketed his last sixpence; and vanished,
six-pences and all, like a ghost at cockcrowing. " Yet, Carlyle goes on
to say, thanks to this book of Boswell's, "they who are gone are still
here; though hidden they are revealed, though dead they yet speak. "
=33= 27. =Hebrides. = Locate these picturesque islands on the map.
=34= 10. =Lord Mansfield. = William Murray, chief justice of the King's
Bench from 1756 to 1788, has been called "the founder of English
commercial law. "
=34= 23. =Macpherson. = In 1760 James Macpherson published what
purported to be fragments of Gaelic verse with translations. These
were so interesting that he was sent to the Highlands to hunt for
more, and within three years he published the _Poems of Ossian_,
consisting of two epics, "Fingal" and "Temora. " Their genuineness has
been discussed ever since. Evidently Johnson settled the matter to his
own satisfaction and to Macaulay's, and you may be interested in what
Boswell has to say. At the same time it seems clear that Johnson went
too far in his charge of forgery. Macpherson probably did not find a
complete epic, yet he undoubtedly found some Gaelic poetry.
=34= 27. =contemptuous terms. = Boswell gives the following letter:
MR. JAMES MACPHERSON,
I received your foolish and impudent letter. Any violence
offered me I shall do my best to repel; and what I cannot do
for myself, the law shall do for me. I hope I shall not be
deterred from detecting what I think a cheat, by the menaces of
a ruffian.
What would you have me retract? I thought your book an
imposture; I think it an imposture still. For this opinion I
have given my reasons to the publick, which I here dare you to
refute. Your rage I defy. Your abilities, since your Homer, are
not so formidable; and what I hear of your morals, inclines me
to pay regard not to what you shall say, but to what you shall
prove. You may print this if you will.
SAM. JOHNSON.
=35= 11-12. =The Kenricks, Campbells, MacNicols, and Hendersons. = If
Johnson and Macaulay do not tell enough about these men, Boswell does.
=35= 30. =Bentley. = Richard Bentley (1662-1742), a well-known English
classical scholar and critic.
=36= 13. =Taxation no Tyranny. = The rest of the title is _An Answer to
the Resolutions and Address of the American Congress_.
=37= 6. =Wilson. = Richard Wilson was one of the greatest English
landscape painters, says _The Dictionary of National Biography_.
=37= 14. =Cowley. = The man who wrote
God the first garden made, and the first city Cain.
=37= 18. =Restoration. = The _International Dictionary_ offers a brief
explanation in case you are not absolutely certain of the exact meaning.
=37= 23. =Walmesley. = See note to =5= 32. --=Button's. = Button's
coffeehouse flourished earlier in the century. Do you remember any
other reference to it? to Will's? to Child's? --=Cibber. = Colley Cibber,
actor and dramatist, altered and adapted some of Shakspere's plays.
Both Johnson and Boswell express their opinions of him frankly enough.
He was appointed poet laureate in 1730.
=37= 25. =Orrery. = Orrery did more than enjoy this privilege,--he wrote
a book entitled _Remarks on the Life and Writings of Jonathan Swift_.
Boswell records Johnson's opinion of it. What other great literary men
enjoyed the society of Swift? _The Century Dictionary_ gives a column
to Swift, and Johnson has a sketch in his _Lives of the Poets_.
=37= 26. =services of no very honourable kind. = By supplying Pope with
private intelligence for his _Dunciad_ he "gained the esteem of Pope
and the enmity of his victims. "
=38= 32. =Malone. = Edmund Malone was a friend of Johnson, Burke, and
Reynolds. He wrote a supplement to Johnson's edition of Shakspere,
published an edition of Reynolds's works, and after bringing out his
own edition of Shakspere, left material for another edition, which was
published by James Boswell the younger in 1821. Boswell's _Malone_, the
"third variorum" edition, is generally considered the best. To Boswell
the elder, an intimate friend, he was of much assistance in preparing
the _Life of Johnson_, and he edited with valuable notes the third,
fourth, fifth, and sixth reissues of the work.
=40= 21-22. =In a solemn and tender prayer. =
Almighty God, Father of all mercy, help me by thy grace, that
I may, with humble and sincere thankfulness, remember the
comforts and conveniences which I have enjoyed at this place;
and that I may resign them with holy submission, equally
trusting in thy protection when thou givest, and when thou
takest away. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, have mercy upon me.
To thy fatherly protection, O Lord, I commend this family.
Bless, guide, and defend them, that they may so pass through
this world, as finally to enjoy in thy presence everlasting
happiness, for Jesus Christ's sake, Amen. --Boswell's _Johnson_.
=41= 1. =Italian fiddler. = A violinist of much talent. Piozzi was
the music master from Brescia who, a little over three years after
Mr. Thrale's death, married the widow. After learning what you can
from Boswell, you will enjoy some such account as the _Encyclopædia
Britannica_ offers. While doing your reading it may be well to keep in
mind what two or three critics have said. Mr. Mowbray Morris writes:
"After all the abuse showered on the unfortunate woman it is pleasant
to know that the marriage proved a happy one in every respect. Piozzi,
who was really a well-mannered, amiable man, took every care of his
wife's fortune, and on their return to England her family and friends
were soon reconciled to him. " Mr. Leslie Stephen says: "Her love of
Piozzi, which was both warm and permanent, is the most amiable feature
of her character. " Mr. Herbert Paul, after praising Macaulay's _Life of
Johnson_, adds, "Yet, if I may say so, I can never forgive Macaulay for
his cruel and unaccountable injustice to Mrs. Thrale. "
=41= 3. =the Ephesian matron. = She cared so much for her husband that
she went into the vault to die with him, and there, in the midst of
her violent grief, fell in love with a soldier who was guarding some
dead bodies near by. For the story (told by a Latin writer, Petronius),
see Jeremy Taylor's _The Rule and Exercises of Holy Dying_, Chapter V,
section 8. --=the two pictures. = In Act III.
=42= 2. =Burke parted from him. = After twenty-seven years of
uninterrupted friendship with Johnson, says Robina Napier. --=Windham. =
The Right Hon. William Windham, a member of the Club, a friend of
Malone, Burke, Fox, and Pitt; in 1794 Secretary at War (Pitt's
ministry), in 1806 War and Colonial Secretary (Lord Grenville's
ministry); in the words of Macaulay, "the first gentleman of his age,
the ingenious, the chivalrous, the high-souled Windham. " Johnson wrote
him appreciative letters in August and October, 1784. See Boswell.
=42= 4. =Frances Burney. = In Macaulay's essay on Madame d'Arblay, he
says: "Her appearance is an important epoch in our literary history.
Evelina was the first tale written by a woman, and purporting to be a
picture of life and manners, that lived or deserved to live. " Read this
account of the "timid and obscure girl" who suddenly "found herself on
the highest pinnacle of fame," eulogized by such men as Burke, Windham,
Gibbon, Reynolds, and Sheridan.
=42= 6. =Langton. = See page 30.
=42= 10-11. =his temper. = In connection with this closing sentence let
us remember a paragraph from Boswell (1776):
"That he was occasionally remarkable for violence of temper may be
granted: but let us ascertain the degree, and not let it be supposed
that he was in a perpetual rage, and never without a club in his hand
to knock down every one who approached him. On the contrary, the truth
is, that by much the greatest part of his time he was civil, obliging,
nay, polite in the true sense of the word; so much so, that many
gentlemen who were long acquainted with him never received, or even
heard a strong expression from him. "
THE MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS AND SPEECHES OF LORD MACAULAY
CONTRIBUTIONS TO KNIGHT'S QUARTERLY MAGAZINE
By By Thomas Babington Macaulay
VOLUME I.
PREFACE.
Lord Macaulay always looked forward to a publication of his
miscellaneous works, either by himself or by those who should represent
him after his death. And latterly he expressly reserved, whenever
the arrangements as to copyright made it necessary, the right of such
publication.
The collection which is now published comprehends some of the earliest
and some of the latest works which he composed. He was born on 25th
October, 1800; commenced residence at Trinity College, Cambridge, in
October, 1818; was elected Craven University Scholar in 1821; graduated
as B. A. in 1822; was elected fellow of the college in October, 1824;
was called to the bar in February, 1826, when he joined the Northern
Circuit; and was elected member for Calne in 1830. After this last
event, he did not long continue to practise at the bar. He went to India
in 1834, whence he returned in June, 1838. He was elected member for
Edinburgh, in 1839, and lost this seat in July, 1847; and this (though
he was afterwards again elected for that city in July, 1852, without
being a candidate) may be considered as the last instance of his taking
an active part in the contests of public life. These few dates are
mentioned for the purpose of enabling the reader to assign the articles,
now and previously published, to the principal periods into which the
author's life may be divided.
The admirers of his later works will probably be interested by watching
the gradual formation of his style, and will notice in his earlier
productions, vigorous and clear as their language always was, the
occurrence of faults against which he afterwards most anxiously guarded
himself. A much greater interest will undoubtedly be felt in tracing the
date and development of his opinions.
The articles published in Knight's Quarterly Magazine were composed
during the author's residence at college, as B. A. It may be remarked
that the first two of these exhibit the earnestness with which he
already endeavoured to represent to himself and to others the scenes and
persons of past times as in actual existence. Of the Dialogue between
Milton and Cowley he spoke, many years after its publication, as that
one of his works which he remembered with most satisfaction. The article
on Mitford's Greece he did not himself value so highly as others thought
it deserved. This article, at any rate, contains the first distinct
enunciation of his views, as to the office of an historian, views
afterwards more fully set forth in his Essay, upon History, in the
Edinburgh Review. From the protest, in the last mentioned essay, against
the conventional notions respecting the majesty of history might perhaps
have been anticipated something like the third chapter of the History
of England. It may be amusing to notice that in the article on Mitford,
appears the first sketch of the New Zealander, afterwards filled up in
a passage in the review of Mrs Austin's translation of Ranke, a passage
which at one time was the subject of allusion, two or three times a
week, in speeches and leading articles. In this, too, appear, perhaps
for the first time, the author's views on the representative system.
These he retained to the very last; they are brought forward repeatedly
in the articles published in this collection and elsewhere, and in his
speeches in parliament; and they coincide with the opinions expressed in
the letter to an American correspondent, which was so often cited in the
late debate on the Reform Bill.
Some explanation appears to be necessary as to the publication of the
three articles "Mill on Government," "Westminster Reviewer's Defence of
Mill" and "Utilitarian Theory of Government. "
In 1828 Mr James Mill, the author of the History of British India,
reprinted some essays which he had contributed to the Supplement to the
Encyclopaedia Britannica; and among these was an Essay on Government.
The method of inquiry and reasoning adopted in this essay appeared
to Macaulay to be essentially wrong. He entertained a very strong
conviction that the only sound foundation for a theory of Government
must be laid in careful and copious historical induction; and he
believed that Mr Mill's work rested upon a vicious reasoning a priori.
Upon this point he felt the more earnestly, owing to his own passion for
historical research, and to his devout admiration of Bacon, whose works
he was at that time studying with intense attention. There can, however,
be little doubt that he was also provoked by the pretensions of some
members of a sect which then commonly went by the name of Benthamites,
or Utilitarians. This sect included many of his contemporaries, who had
quitted Cambridge at about the same time with him. It had succeeded, in
some measure, to the sect of the Byronians, whom he has described in the
review of Moore's Life of Lord Byron, who discarded their neckcloths,
and fixed little models of skulls on the sand-glasses by which they
regulated the boiling of their eggs for breakfast. The members of these
sects, and of many others that have succeeded, have probably long ago
learned to smile at the temporary humours. But Macaulay, himself a
sincere admirer of Bentham, was irritated by what he considered the
unwarranted tone assumed by several of the class of Utilitarians. "We
apprehend," he said, "that many of them are persons who, having read
little or nothing, are delighted to be rescued from the sense of their
own inferiority by some teacher who assures them that the studies which
they have neglected are of no value, puts five or six phrases into their
mouths, lends them an odd number of the Westminster Review, and in
a month transforms them into philosophers;" and he spoke of them as
"smatterers, whose attainments just suffice to elevate them from the
insignificance of dunces to the dignity of bores, and to spread dismay
among their pious aunts and grand mothers. " The sect, of course, like
other sects, comprehended some pretenders, and these the most arrogant
and intolerant among its members. He, however, went so far as to apply
the following language to the majority:--"As to the greater part of
the sect, it is, we apprehend, of little consequence what they study or
under whom. It would be more amusing, to be sure, and more reputable, if
they would take up the old republican cant and declaim about Brutus and
Timoleon, the duty of killing tyrants and the blessedness of dying for
liberty. But, on the whole, they might have chosen worse. They may as
well be Utilitarians as jockeys or dandies. And, though quibbling about
self-interest and motives, and objects of desire, and the greatest
happiness of the greatest number, is but a poor employment for a grown
man, it certainly hurts the health less than hard drinking and the
fortune less than high play; it is not much more laughable than
phrenology, and is immeasurably more humane than cock-fighting. "
Macaulay inserted in the Edinburgh Review of March, 1829, an article
upon Mr Mill's Essay. He attacked the method with much vehemence; and,
to the end of his life, he never saw any ground for believing that in
this he had gone too far. But before long he felt that he had not spoken
of the author of the Essay with the respect due to so eminent a man. In
1833, he described Mr mill, during the debate on the India Bill of that
year, as a "gentleman extremely well acquainted with the affairs of our
Eastern Empire, a most valuable servant of the Company, and the author
of a history of India, which, though certainly not free from faults, is,
I think, on the whole, the greatest historical work which has appeared
in our language since that of Gibbon. "
Almost immediately upon the appearance of the article in the Edinburgh
Review, an answer was published in the Westminster Review. It was
untruly attributed, in the newspapers of the day, to Mr Bentham himself.
Macaulay's answer to this appeared in the Edinburgh Review, June, 1829.
He wrote the answer under the belief that he was answering Mr Bentham,
and was undeceived in time only to add the postscript. The author of the
article in the Westminster Review had not perceived that the question
raised was not as to the truth or falsehood of the result at which Mr
Mill had arrived, but as to the soundness or unsoundness of the method
which he pursued; a misunderstanding at which Macaulay, while he
supposed the article to be the work of Mr Bentham, expressed much
surprise. The controversy soon became principally a dispute as to the
theory which was commonly known by the name of The Greatest Happiness
Principle. Another article in the Westminster Review followed; and
a surrejoinder by Macaulay in the Edinburgh Review of October, 1829.
Macaulay was irritated at what he conceived to be either extreme
dullness or gross unfairness on the part of his unknown antagonist, and
struck as hard as he could; and he struck very hard indeed.
The ethical question thus raised was afterwards discussed by Sir James
Mackintosh, in the Dissertation contributed by him to the seventh
edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, page 284-313 (Whewell's
Edition). Sir James Mackintosh notices the part taken in the controversy
by Macaulay, in the following words: "A writer of consummate ability,
who has failed in little but the respect due to the abilities and
character of his opponents, has given too much countenance to the abuse
and confusion of language exemplified in the well-known verse of Pope,
'Modes of self-love the Passions we may call. '
'We know,' says he, 'no universal proposition respecting human nature
which is true but one--that men always act from self-interest. '" "It
is manifest from the sequel, that the writer is not the dupe of the
confusion; but many of his readers may be so. If, indeed, the word
"self-interest" could with propriety be used for the gratification of
every prevalent desire, he has clearly shown that this change in the
signification of terms would be of no advantage to the doctrine which he
controverts. It would make as many sorts of self-interest as there
are appetites, and it is irreconcilably at variance with the system of
association proposed by Mr Mill. " "The admirable writer whose language
has occasioned this illustration, who at an early age has mastered every
species of composition, will doubtless hold fast to simplicity, which
survives all the fashions of deviation from it, and which a man of
genius so fertile has few temptations to for sake. "
When Macaulay selected for publication certain articles of the Edinburgh
Review, he resolved not to publish any of the three essays in question;
for which he assigned the following reason:--
"The author has been strongly urged to insert three papers on the
Utilitarian Philosophy, which, when they first appeared, attracted
some notice, but which are not in the American editions. He has however
determined to omit these papers, not because he is disposed to retract a
single doctrine which they contain, but because he is unwilling to offer
what might be regarded as an affront to the memory of one from whose
opinions he still widely dissents, but to whose talents and virtues he
admits that he formerly did not do justice. Serious as are the faults of
the Essay on Government, a critic, while noticing those faults, should
have abstained from using contemptuous language respecting the historian
of British India. It ought to be known that Mr Mill had the generosity,
not only to forgive, but to forget the unbecoming acrimony with which he
had been assailed, and was, when his valuable life closed, on terms of
cordial friendship with his assailant. "
Under these circumstances, considerable doubt has been felt as to the
propriety of republishing the three Essays in the present collection.
But it has been determined, not without much hesitation, that they
should appear. It is felt that no disrespect is shown to the memory of
Mr Mill, when the publication is accompanied by so full an apology for
the tone adopted towards him; and Mr Mill himself would have been the
last to wish for the suppression of opinions on the ground that they
were in express antagonism to his 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.
