the localities of the battle of Worcester. We shall expect a very fine account of the battle of Worcester.' I hinted with all delicacy that I had no more to do with the battle of Worcester than with the battle of Marathon. Of course not, sir, of course not. The battle of Worcester certainly does not enter into your plan.' So we bowed and parted. I thought of the proverb,* and I thought, too, that on this occasion the name of Tom Fool might be properly applied to more than one of the parties concerned." "September 21st.-I saw in the hedge the largest snake that I remember to have seen in wild natural liberty. I remembered the agonies of terror into which the sight of a snake, creeping among the shrubs at Barley Wood, threw me when I was a boy of six. It was a deep, and really terrible, impression. My mother feared that it would make me ill. It was to no purpose that they told me, and that I told myself, that there was no danger. A serpent was to me like a giant or a ghost—a horrible thing which was mentioned in story-books, but which had no existence in England; and the actual sight affected me as if a hobgoblin had really appeared. I followed the snake of to-day for some distance. He seemed as much afraid of me as I was of his kinsman forty-four years ago. During this long walk I read 'Wilhelm Meister' occasionally. I never liked it so little. Even the account of Aurelia's and Marianne's deaths, which used to break my heart, moved me as little as it moved those brutes Lothario and Wilhelm."

At the close of 1851 Palmerston was ejected from the Foreign Office. The Government needed no small accession of prestige in order to balance so heavy a loss, and overtures were made, without much hope of success, to induce Macaulay to accept a seat in the Cabinet.

"December 24th.-Palmerston is out. It was high time; but I can not help being sorry. A daring, indefatigable, high-spirited man; but too fond of conflict, and too ready to sacrifice every thing to victory when once he was in the ring. Lord Granville, I suppose, will succeed. I wish him well. 1851 has done a great deal for him."

"December 25th.-I met Lord Granville at Brooks's. I congratulated him, and gave him good wishes warmly and sincerely; but I spoke kindly, and with regret, as I felt, about Palmerston. From Granville's answer, guarded as it very properly was, I judge that we have not yet seen the true explanation. He told me that anxiety had kept him awake two nights." "December 31st.-I met Peacock; a clever fellow, and a good scholar.t

* "More people know Tom Fool than Tom Fool knows."

This passage refers to the author of "Headlong Hall," and not to the Dean of Ely, as some readers might possibly suppose.

I am glad to have an opportunity of being better acquainted with him. We had out Aristophanes, Eschylus, Sophocles, and several other old fellows, and tried each other's quality pretty well. We are both strong enough in these matters for gentlemen. But he is editing the 'Supplices.' Eschylus is not to be edited by a man whose Greek is only a secondary pursuit."

"January 18th, 1852.-At dinner I received a note from Lord John asking to see me to-morrow at eleven."

"January 19th.-I was anxious; but determined, if I found myself hard pressed, to beg a day for consideration, and then to send a refusal in writing. I find it difficult to refuse people face to face. I went to Chesham Place. He at once asked me to join the Cabinet. I refused, and gave about a quarter of my reasons, though half a quarter would have been sufficient. I told him that I should be of no use; that I was not a debater; that it was too late for me to become one; that I might once have turned out effective in that way, but that now my literary habits, and my literary reputation, had made it impossible. I pleaded health, temper, and tastes. He did not urge me much, and I think has been rather induced by others, than by his own judgment, to make the proposition. I added that I would not sit for any nomination borough, and that my turn of mind disqualified me for canvassing great constituent bodies. I might have added that I did not wish to be forced to take part against Palmerston in a personal dispute; that I much doubt whether I should like the new Reform Bill; and that I had no reason to believe that all that I think right will be done as respects national defense. I did speak very strongly on this point, as I feel."

"January 31st.--I see that Lord Broughton retires, and that Maule goes to the India Board. I might have had that place, I believe; the pleasantest in the Government, and the best suited to me; but I judged far better for my reputation and peace of mind."

In February, Macaulay paid another visit to Windsor Castle. "February 6th.-We breakfasted at nine. I strolled up and down the fine gallery for an hour; then with Mahon to the Library; and then to the top of the Round Tower, and enjoyed a noble view. In the Library, taking up by the merest chance a finely bound book, it proved to be Ticknor's-a presentation copy, with a letter from the author to the queen saying that he had sent his volumes because he had been told by the American minister that an eminent literary man had recommended them to her majesty. I was the eminent literary man; and I dare say that I could find the day in my journal. It is an odd coincidence that I should light on his letter. Dinner was at a quarter to seven, on account of the play which was to follow. The theatre was handsome, the scenery good, and the play 'King John.' There were faults in the acting, as there are great faults in the

play, considered as an acting play; but there was great effect likewise. Constance made me cry. The scene between King John and Hubert, and that between Hubert and Arthur, were very telling. Faulconbridge swaggered well. The allusions to a French invasion and to the Popish encroachments would have been furiously applauded at Drury Lane or Covent Garden. Here we applauded with some reserve. The little girl who acted Arthur did wonders.* Lord Salisbury seemed not to like the part which his namesake performed in the play."t

"February 16th.-I finished 'St. Simon's Memoirs,' and am more struck with the goodness of the good parts than ever. To be sure, the road from fountain to fountain lies through a very dry desert."

"May 1st.-A cold 1st of May. After breakfast I went to Turnham Green, to look at the place. I found it after some search; the very spot beyond all doubt, and admirably suited for an assassination.‡

"On my return I looked into Shakspeare, and could not get away from him. I passed the whole day, till it was time to dress, in turning him over. Then to dine with the Royal Academy. A great number of my friends, and immense smiling and shaking of hands. I got a seat in a pleasant situation near Thesiger, Hallam, and Inglis. The scene was lively, and many of the pictures good. I was charmed by Stanfield's Rochelle, and Roberts's three paintings. It is the old duke's birthday: he is eightythree to-day. I never see him now without a painful interest. I look at him every time with the thought that this may be the last. We drank

*It is almost worth while to be past middle life in order to have seen Miss Kate Terry in Arthur.

"Sal. Stand by, or I shall gall you, Faulconbridge.
Bast. Thou wert better gall the devil, Sal.sbury.

If thou but frown on me, or stir thy foot,

Or teach thy hasty spleen to do me shame,

I'll strike thee dead. Put up thy sword betime;

Or I'll so maul you and your toasting-iron

That you shall think the devil is come from hell."

See the account of the assassination plot in chapter xxi. of the "History." "The place and time were fixed. The place was to be a narrow and winding lane leading from the landing-place on the north of the river to Turnham Green. The spot may still easily be found. The ground has since been drained by trenches. But in the seventeenth century it was a quagmire, through which the royal coach was with difficulty tugged at a foot's pace. The time was to be the afternoon of Saturday, the 15th of February."

Macaulay attended the dinner in his character of Professor of Ancient Literature to the Royal Academy.

He returned

his health with immense shouting and table - banging. thanks, and spoke of the loss of the Birkenhead. I remarked (and Lawrence, the American minister, said that he had remarked the same thing) that, in his eulogy of the poor fellows who were lost, the duke never spoke of their courage, but always of their discipline and subordination. He repeated it several times over. The courage, I suppose, he treated as a thing of course. Lord Derby spoke with spirit, but with more hesitation than on any occasion on which I have heard him. Disraeli's speech was clever. In defiance of all rule, he gave Lord John Russell's health. Lord John answered good-humoredly and well. I was glad of it. Although a speech at the Royal Academy is not much, it is important that, whatever he does now, should be well done."

CHAPTER XIII.

1852-1856.

The Magnetoscope, and Table-turning.-Macaulay's Re-election for Edinburgh, and the General Satisfaction which it occasioned. He has a Serious Attack of Illness.-Clifton.-Extracts from Macaulay's Journal.— His Strong Feelings for Old Associations.-Barley Wood.-Letters to Mr. Ellis. Great Change in Macaulay's Health and Habits.-His Speech at Edinburgh. The House of Commons.-Mr. Disraeli's Budget.-Formation of Lord Aberdeen's Ministry.-The Judges' Exclusion Bill.-The India Bill.-The Annuity Tax.-Macaulay ceases to take an Active Part in Politics.-Letters to Mr. Ellis.—Mrs. Beecher Stowe.-Tunbridge Wells.-Plato.-—Mr. Vizetelly.—Macaulay's Patriotism.-The Crimean War. Open Competition.-The "History."-Thames Ditton.- Publication of Macaulay's Third and Fourth Volumes.-Statistics of the Sale of the "History."- Honors conferred on Macaulay. - The British Museum.

THE year 1852 opened very pleasantly for Macaulay. From January to July his diary presents a record of hopeful and uninterrupted literary labor, and of cheerful dinners and breakfasts at the houses which he cared to frequent. About this period the friends among whom he lived were much given to inquiries into fields of speculation that may not unfairly be classed under the head of the occult sciences; allusions to which more than once occur both in Lord Carlisle's and in Macaulay's journals. Lord Carlisle writes:

"May 19th, 1852.—Breakfasted with the Mahons. We talked a good deal of the magnetoscope, which has received a staggerer from Dufferin, who went rather disguised a second time, and got quite a different character. The man told Macaulay that he was an historical painter, which the Bishop of Oxford thinks a very just character. Macaulay, I hear, denounces the wretched quack without measure. At twelve there was a large assemblage at the bishop's to see a clairvoyant, brought by Sir David Brewster VOL. II.-17