Page:Cousins's Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature.djvu/261

 Dictionary of English Literature 249

Though a work of no real research or authority, it is in the main well written,

MACAULAY, THOMAS BABINGTON, LORD (1800-1859).

listorian, essayist, and statesman, s. of Zachary M., a wealthy merchant, and one of the leaders of the anti -slavery party, was b. at lothley Temple, Leicestershire, and ed. at a private school and at ~Tinity Coll., Camb., of which he became a Fellow in 1824, and rhere, though he gained distinction as a classical scholar and ebater, he did not take a high degree, owing to his weakness in mathematics. About the time of his leaving the Univ. his prospects ere entirely changed by the failure of his father's firm. He accord' ngly read law, and in 1826 was called to the Bar, which led to his ppointment two years later as a Commissioner in Bankruptcy. He iad by this time made his first appearance in print, in Knight's uarterly Magazine, and in 1825 he formed the connection with the Edinburgh Review which redounded so greatly to the fame of both, lis first contribution was the famous essay on Milton, which, although he afterwards said of it that " it contained scarcely a para graph which his matured judgment approved," took the reading mblic by storm, and at once gave him access to the first society in ,ondon, in which his extraordinary conversational powers enabled im to take a leading place. He now began to fyirn his mind owards public life, and by favour of Lord Lansdowne sat in the louse of Commons for his family borough of Calne. Entering the louse in 1830 in the thick of the Reform struggle, M. at once leaped nto a foremost place as a debater, and after the passage of the leform Bill sat as one of the two members for the new borough of ^eeds, and held office as Sec. to the Board of Control. The acquaint- nce with Indian affairs which he thus gained led to his appointment is a member of the Supreme Council of India, whither he went in 834. Here his chief work was the codification of the criminal law, vhich he carried out with great ability, and by which he wrote his .ame on the history of the empire. By the regard for the rights of he natives which he showed, he incurred much ill-will in interested [uarters. For this he consoled himself with the pleasures of litera- ure, which gradually assumed the preponderance in his mind over )olitical ambitions. In 1838 he returned to England. The next ear he began The History of England, but for some time to come lis energies were still divided between this task, the demands of he Edinburgh Review, and politics. He was elected for Edin., for vhich he sat until 1847, when he was thrown out on the Maynooth [uestion, and from 1839-41 was Sec. for War. The Lays of 4ncient Rome were pub. in 1842, and a collection of his essays in ~ Edinburgh the following year. In 1846 he joined the govern ment of Lord John Russell as Paymaster-General, an office with ight duties, his retirement from which, however, followed the loss )f his seat in the next year. He was now finally set free for his Teat work, which became thenceforth the leading interest of his life. The first and second vols. appeared in 1848, and were received with eat in the coalition government of Lord Aberdeen, accepting, how- iver, the seat in Parliament which Edin., now repentant, gave him
 * xtraordinary applause. In 1852 he was offered, but declined, a