one of the most striking works of human power and art. I doubt whether there be anywhere any single architectural composition of equal extent. I do not believe that all the works of Pericles,-nay, that even St. Peter's, colonnade and all,— cost so much as was lavished on Versailles; and yet there are a dozen country houses of private individuals in England alone which have a greater air of majesty, and splendour, than this huge quarry. Castle Howard is immeasurably finer. I went inside, and was struck by the good sense,-I would even say magnanimity,-which the present King has shown in admitting all that does honour to the nation, without regard to personal or family considerations. The victories of Buonaparte furnish half the rooms. Even Charles the Tenth is fairly dealt with. Whatever titles he had to public respect;-the African victories; Navarino; the Dauphin's exploits, such as they were, in Spain;—all have a place here. The most interesting thing, however, in the whole palace, is Louis the Fourteenth's bedroom with its original furniture. I thought of all St. Simon's anecdotes about that room and bed." CHAPTER VIII. 1839-41. Macaulay returns to London-He meets Lord Brougham-Letters to Mr. Napier and Mrs. Trevelyan-Correspondence with Mr. Gladstone Heated state of politics-The hostility of the Peers to Lord Melbourne's Government-Macaulay's view of the situation-Verses by Praed-The Bedchamber question-Macaulay is elected for Edinburgh-Debate on the Ballot-Macaulay becomes a Cabinet Minister-The Times-Windsor Castle-Vote of Want of Confidence-The Chinese War-Irish Registra tion: scene in the House of Commons-Letters to Napier-Religious Difficulties in Scotland-Lord Cardigan-The Corn Laws-The Sugar Duties -Defeat of the Ministry, and Dissolution of Parliament-Macaulay is re-elected for Edinburgh-His love for street-ballads-The change of Government. AT T the end of the first week in February 1839, "Friday, February 8.-I have been reading Lord Durham's Canadian Report, and think it exceedingly good and able. I learn, with great concern, that the business has involved Lord Glenelg's resignation. Poor fellow! I love him and feel for him.' I bought Gladstone's book: a capital shrovetide cock to throw at. Almost too good a mark." “February 13.—I read, while walking, a good deal of Gladstone's book. The Lord hath delivered him into our hand. I think I see my way to a popular, and at the same time gentlemanlike, critique. I called on the Miss Berrys, who are very desirous to collect my articles. I gave them a list, and procured some numbers for them at a bookseller's near Leicester Square. Thence to Ellis, and repeated him Romulus, the alterations in Horatius, and the beginning of Virginia. He was much pleased. We walked away together to Lincoln's Inn 1 See page 293 of Vol. I. Fields, and met Brougham: an awkward moment. But he greeted me just as if we had parted yesterday, shook hands, got between us, and walked with us some way. He was in extraordinary force, bodily and mental. He declared vehemently against the usage which Lord Glenelg has experienced, and said that it was a case for pistolling, an infamous league of eleven men to ruin one. It will be long enough before he takes to the remedy which he recommends to others. He talked well and bitterly of Lord Durham's report. It was, he said, a secondrate article for the Edinburgh Review. The matter came from a swindler; the style from a coxcomb; and the dictator furnished only six letters, D-U-R-H-A-M.' As we were walking, Allen the Quaker came by. Brougham hallooed to him, and began to urge him to get up the strongest opposition to Lord John Russell's Education plan. I was glad when we parted. Home, and thought about Gladstone. In two or three days I shall have the whole in my head, and then my pen will go like fire." 3 Clarges Street: February 26, 1839. Dear Napier, I can now promise you an article in a week, or ten days at furthest. Of its length I cannot speak with certainty. I should think it would fill about forty pages; but I find the subject grow on me. I think that I shall dispose completely of Gladstone's theory. I wish that I could see my way clearly to a good counter theory; but I catch only glimpses here and there of what I take to be truth. I am leading an easy life; not unwilling to engage in the Parliamentary battle if a fair opportunity should offer, but not in the smallest degree tormented by a desire for the House of Commons, and fully determined against office. I enjoyed Italy intensely; far more than I had expected. By the bye, I met Gladstone at Rome. We talked and walked together in St. Peter's during the best part of an afternoon. He is both a clever and an amiable man. As to politics, the cloud has blown over; the sea has gone down; the barometer is rising. The session is proceeding through what was expected to be its most troubled stage in the same quiet way in which it generally advances through the dog days towards its close. Everything and everybody is languid, and even Brougham seems to be somewhat mitigated. I met him in Lincoln's Inn Fields, the other day, when I was walking with Ellis. He greeted me as if we had breakfasted together that morning, and went on to declaim against everybody with even more than his usual parts, and with all his usual rashness and flighti ness. Ever yours T. B. MACAULAY. London: March 20, 1839, Dearest Hannah,-I have passed some very melancholy days since I wrote last. On Sunday afternoon I left Ellis tolerably cheerful. His wife's disorder was abating. The next day, when I went to him, I found the house shut up. I meant only to have asked after him; but he would see me. He gave way to very violent emotion; but he soon collected himself, and talked to me about her for hours. "I was so proud of her," he said. "I loved so much to show her to anybody that I valued. And now, what good will it do me to be a Judge, or to make ten thousand a year? I shall not have her to go home to with the good news." I could not speak, for I know what that feeling is as well as he. He talked much of the sources of happiness that were left to him,―his children, his relations and hers, and my friendship. He ought, he said, to be very grateful that I had not died in India, but was at home to comfort him. Comfort him I could not, except by hearing him talk of her with tears in my eyes. I stayed till late. Yesterday I went again, and passed most of the day with him, and I shall go to him again to-day; for he says, and I see, that my company does him good. I would with pleasure give one of my fingers to get him back his wife, which is more than most widowers would give to get back their own. I have had my proofs from Napier. He magnifies the article prodigiously. In a letter to Empson he calls it exquisite and admirable, and to me he writes that it is the finest piece of logic that ever was printed. I do not think it so; but I do think that I have disposed of all Gladstone's theories unanswerably; and there is not a line of the paper with which even so strict a judge as Sir Robert Inglis, or my uncle Babington, could quarrel at as at all indecorous. How is my dear little girl? Is she old enough to take care of a canary-bird or two? -bird or two? From her tenderness for the little fish, I think I may venture to trust her with live animals. I have this instant a note from Lord Lansdowne, who was in the chair of the Club 1 yesterday night, to say that I am unanimously elected. Poor Ellis's loss had quite put it out of my head. Ever yours T. B. M. On the 10th of April Macaulay received a letter from Mr. Gladstone, who in generous terms acknowledged the courtesy, and, with some reservations, the fairness of his article. "I have been favoured," Mr. Gladstone wrote, "with a copy of the forthcoming number of the Edin 1 The Club, as it was invariably called, (for its members would not stoop to identify it by any distinctive title,) was the club of Johnson, Gibbon, Burke, Goldsmith, Garrick, and Reynolds. Under the date April 9, 1839, the following entry occurs in Macaulay's diary: "I went to the Thatched House, and was well pleased to meet the Club for the first time. We had Lord Holland in the chair, the Bishop of London, Lord Mahon, Phillips the painter, Milman, Elphinstone, Sir Charles Grey, and Hudson Gurney. I was amused, in turning over the records of the Club, to come upon poor Bozzy's signature, evidently affixed when he was too drunk to guide his pen." |