Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/151

 ii a i. FEB. 19, 1910.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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as a proof that GENIUS is not confined to SEX ; but at the same time you will pardon me

We want no more than ONE MRS. MACATJLAY.

' Late Lord Lyttelton's Letters to Mrs. Peach,' p. 114.

On the other side of the same table, at top, is left a blank space (we suppose) for an Epitaph, and under which is as follows :

Erected by THOMAS WILSON, D.D. Kector of this Parish, as a Testimony of the high Esteem he bears to the distinguished

Merit of his Friend CATHERINE MACAULAY.

A.D. MDCCLXXVII.

Apparently the reference for the inscrip- tion " You speak of Mrs. Macaulay," &c., viz., " Late Lord Lyttelton's Letters to Mrs. Peach, p. 114, n was inscribed on the table and supplied to the newspapers. (See The Gentleman's Magazine, 1777, vol. xlvii. p. 470.) The " late Lord Lyttelton " must be George, first Lord, whose son Thomas married Mrs. Peach.

The correspondent of The Gentleman's Magazine at the reference just cited, signing himself " Crito," denies the authenticity of these letters, quoting apparently Lord Lyttelton's executors, but not actually asserting that he has found the quotation in these letters. He ends his remarks thus :

" Should they (of which I have no doubt) !>< spurious, what will the world think of a Christian divine who not only turns his church into a Heathen temple, but makes it the vehicle of falsehood to posterity ? "

Sir George Otto Trevelyan in his ' Ame- rican Revolution,* New Edition, 1905, iii. 252, quotes from the passage referred to as really coming from the pen of George, Lord Lyttelton.

It is evident that the inscription, a copy of which, being considered open to objection, was sent by the churchwardens to Dr. Wynne, was not the first, i.e., " Government is a Power," &c., as in the presentment complaint is made of " an Inscription under- neath the same To the memory of Catherine Macauley, widow, now living," and this first inscription was on the scroll held in her hand.

No doubt the inscription or inscriptions regarded as objectionable were the last two, which were on the " marble table, n under- neath the statue, or one of them.

In The Westminster Magazine of 1778, facing p. 59, is an engraving representing " Mrs. Macaulay, the celebrated historian, an elegant Portrait taken from Dr. Wilson's marble statue " (ibid., p. 681). This engraving is a picture in black and white representing

Mrs. Macaulay in an attitude very similar to that of the statue. From the volumes- on which, her left arm leans protrudes a paper inscribed " History of England.'' Near the books is an inkstand with two- quills stuck in it. The left hand holds a- roll of paper, the right a quill pen. There is an elaborate background. The engraver's- name is not given.

I have a somewhat similar engraving taken from Mrs. Macaulay's * History of England from the Revolution to the Present Time in a Series of Letters to a Friend * (i.e. Dr. Wilson), Bath, 1778, vol. i. (the only volume published). It is engraved' by J. Caldwall. In this the right arm with 1 the pen in the hand leans on the five volumes, which, as in the above-mentioned engraving r are labelled " History of England " ; near to the volumes is the inkstand with the two quills in it. The left hand holds a card or paper inscribed " Dr. Wilson of Walbrook."' There is an elaborate background.

In each of these engravings the pedestal* on which Mrs. Macaulay leans has the follow- ing inscription :

Government | a J power delegated [ for the | happiness | of | mankind | conducted | by | wis^ dom | justice | and | mercy.

In Caldwall's engraving " C. Macaulay ?? is inscribed on the base of this pedestal.

Both these engravings make the pedestal' about twice the width of the actual marble, which is about nine inches. The back of tho body of the statue is rough hewn, as for a niche (see quotation from The Gazetteer above).

In ' Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century,' by J. Nichols, viii. 458, it is stated that the statue " was boarded up till her [Mrs. Macaulay's] death, by authority of the Spiritual court. 2 '

In the biography of Dr. Thomas Wilson ' Diet, of Nat. Biog. ? s.v. ' Wilson, Thomas (1663-1755), Bishop of Sodor and Man,' his father he is said to have erected the statue within the altar rails of St. Stephen's, and" to have afterwards boarded it up. I have, I think, shown that " within the altar rails " is a mistake. So is, I think, the " boarding - up " at any time. If it had taken place before 12 Aug., 1778, it could scarcely have been left out of the Vestry minutes. Mrs. Macaulay married Graham in December of that year, a few months after the last mention of the statue in the 'Vestry minutes. One cannot suppose that, dilatory as they were, the churchwardens would have been content with a mere boarding-up.