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LITERATURE
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DEATH OF LORD MACAULAY . England and European literature have sustained an irreparable loss by the sudden death of JLord Macaulay , which took place at his residence , in Kensington , at 8 o ' clock on Wednesday evening . Although in 1852 he had a serious and protracted illness , from declared disease of the heart , the attack was subdued , and till within the last three weeks his health was tolerably good . About a fortnight since he had a second attack , from which , however , he rallied , and his medical advisers considered him out of immediate danger . Up to the end of last week he continued to ameud , but a relapse took place , and terminated fatally . Lord Macaulay
was never married , and the title dies with him . He was born at Rothley Temple , Leicestershire , in the year 1800 , and was consequently only 59 years of age . But though he has died comparatively young , his life has been one of constant acquisition and unflagging industry . The son of Zachary Macaulay —a man worthy to be named along with Clarksonj WUberforce , and Stephen , for his exertions and sacrifices to promote the abolition of the slave trade — Mr . Macaulay had doubtless an excellent early training .. He entered Trinity College , Cambridge , in 1819 , and was soon distinguished in the University as a . youth of singularly large and varied attainments , as well as remarkable mental
powers . He carried ofTprize after prize , and having , on leaving the University , chosen the bar as his profession , he selected the " Northern Circuit as the sphere of his legal career . About this time his cele ^ brated article on ' * Milton " appeared in the Edinburgh Review . The publication of that article was a literary event , and it was soon felt that a new luminary was rising in the literary hemisphere . Subsequent articles of equal ability led to Mr . Macaulay ' s being made a Bankruptcy Commissioner , and to his introduction to Parliament , under the auspices of the Marquis of Lansdowne , as member for Calne , and to office as Secretary to the Board of Control . This was in 1830 , and the part played by him during
the exciting Parliamentary discussions on reform led to his being named , along with the late Mr . John Marshall , Jun ., as a Liberal candidate for Leeds , in the event of its being enfranchised . By the free choice of the inhabitants of so influential a borough as Leeds , with which he had no local or personal ties ,, Mr . Macaulay ' s political position was now made . To the surprise , however , of his constituents , the right honourable gentleman , before two years had passed , accepted as appointment in the Supreme Council of India . At the end of two years and a half Mr . Macaulay returned to England , having completed his proposed Penal Code , which , however , has never yet become law . To his residence in India we owe his essays
on Lord Clive and Warren Hastings , two of his most brilliant productions . Mr . Macaulay ' s subsequent ; political career in England was somewhat lees active than that previous to his departure for the East ; but he still contributed—as M . P . for Edinburgh , Secretary at War , and Paymaster of the Forces—to the stores of our Parliamentary eloquence . The loss of his election for Edinburgh in 1847 , owing to his views on theMaynooth question induced him to retire from public life and to devote his time to literary pursuits . Under ordinary circumstances , his ejection would have been the subject of lasting x egret . But while his admirers wore deploring the fact of a man known to fame as a poet , essayist , and orator , being thus displaced by a constituency so important and intelligent ,
they derived no small consolation from the rumour that he was to devote his leisure to the grand project of writing a History of England . His peculiar qualifications for the task , his parliamentary career , his . official knowledge , his social experience , his historical information , his familiarity with ancient litoraturo , and the art ho was known to possess ot writing wh « t people like to road , as well as dealing skilfully with the less attractive parts of a subject raised high expectations ; and when , in 1848 , an instalment of two volumes appeared , with the title of " The History of ^ ng land from the accession of James the beaonu , thnv mftft wiHi « vn nnthuslnstic reception , and elicited
universal praise . In the mtgoatio sentences with which ho introduced his work to the public , Mr . Mucuulay stated that lie would cheerfully bear the reproach of having descended below what is caiicu tho dignity of history , if ho could succeed in placing before tho English of tho nineteenth century a true picture of the life of their ancestor ? . Ho made tlie flaeriflco , and accomplished his object . By o- JW" " oious , selection and arrangement of materials a i > y retaining only what was interesting of itself , or
could be rendered so by the artifice of style ; and by adorning his pages with biographical sketches of the principal actors , in . the scenes he treated of , Mr . Macaulay succeeded in producing a book which few can peruse without gratification . In 1848 , Mr . Macaulay was chosen Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow , and delivered an inaugural address , memorable for its ability . In 1849 he was nominated Professor of Ancient History in the Royal Academy . In 1852 , when a general election occurred , he was by his friends put in nomination for Edinburgh . Mr . Macaulay , however , stood haughtily aloof from the stirring contest ; neither issuing an address , nor appearing as a candidate on the hustings . Nevertheless , the electors restored themselves to the good opinion of the world by replacing him . in his
former position .- and going northward in the autumn , he delivered a speech that did much to clear a way for the Coalition Government , which he subsequently supported in the House of Commons , by two orations deemed not quite worthy of his ancient reputation . In 1853 , Mr . Macaulay ' s various speeches were collected and published . In 1855 , the third and fourth volumes of his " History of England " were hailed with an enthusiasm , which marked them out for a popularity hardly less extensive than that which attended their predecessors . In 1856 , Mr . Macaulay resigned his seat for Edinburgh , and on September 10 , 1857 , he was raised to the peerage ; but a chronic cough , which of late years prevented his speaking for more than a short time , probably induced him to refrain from ever addressing the Upper House .
In the introduction of his last and greatest work , the author expressed a hope that he might be enabled to bring down the history of his country to a date within the memory of living men ; but unhappily this hope is-, very far from being realised . For some time it has been currently rumoured that the fifth and sixth volumes of the work were about to appear , but we are enabled . to state , on good authority , that , whatever materials may have , been accumulated , no n such extensive addition to the history is nearly ready for the press .
The speeches and writings of the deceased peer are familiar wherever the English language is spoken . As an orator , an essayist , a poet , and a historian , he has occupied a leading position , and his death at such a moment , when the nation was anxiously looking forward for another instalment of his great history , will be a theme for universal lamentation . We hear that the Birkenhead steam launch having proved a failure , Dr . Livingstone has sent home orders for the construction of another , at an estimated cost of £ 2 , 000 . This cost Dr . Livingstone proposes to defray out of his own pocket , from the means set aside for his children out of the profits of his " Travels . " " The children roust make it up for themselves " was in effect his expression in sending the order for appropriation of the money .
Messrs . Hurst and Blackett have in the press " The Man of , the People , " in three volumes , by Mr . W . Howitt , and new novels by the Hon . Mrs . Norton , Mrs . Ho wit t , Mrs . S . C . Hall , and Mr . James Haunay . Mr . Atkinson , the author of " Oriental and Western Siberia , " has another work in the press , ?' The Upper and Lower Amoor , a narrative of travel and adventure , " which will be published by Messrs . Hurst and Blackett . Messrs . Longman will publish , in a few days , " Gathered Together , " Poems , by William Wilson , author of" A Little Earnest Book upon a Great Old
Subject , " &o . &c . M . Guizot , says a X ' aris letter , who is giving the last touch to the third volume of his memoirs , has lately received a very flattering compliment from his townsmen of tho City of Nimes . The honorary presidency of the Academy of Nimes having been offered him , the illustrious statesman hastened to reply by a letter in which he accopted the appointment . M . Guizot added that , notwithstanding his advanced flge , ho hopes to render his presidency effective .
M . do Limartlne ' s paternal estate of Monceaux , near Mucon , is advertised for ealo by auction at the Chamber of Notaries in Paris , on the 7 th of February next . The upset price ie fixed at J ^ °° W franos . The French papers publish , on beliaU ot M . do Lamartine , a contradiction of the report , whi'ch it seoniB , lias been circulated , that lie proposes to deliver public lectures . . He had arrived in Paris from Maoon , and is working at las serial , the Entrctlen LUterairet , „ ' Not less than 43 , 000 copies of the P « m P { $ t v * £ Pane ot lo Congros , " have boon sold , Wlioever UK w M . Dontutho publisher , is not the man . M
' l 5 r Justus Liebig , in the wPPftnionJj w "J 4 llgmelnc ZaUung , has commenced tho pubHcation ofa nowsorlos of popular letters on tto « # J » « agricultural chemistry . They are addressed to Alderman Meuhi .
THE PECULIUM . By Thomas Hancock . QUAKERISM , PAST AND PRESENT . By John Stevenson Browntree . —Smith , Elder and Co . These two volumes are supposed ^ by their respective prefaces , to be in one . They are or a subject which previous publications have already made familiar to our readers . They are , in fact prize essays promoted by the Society of Friends , and rewarded with the respective prizes of one hundred guineas and fifty guineas , in order tc enable it to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion whj the Body continually lessens in number instead ol increasing . The confession of this mishap am the effort thus made to retrieve the misfortunes s <
candidly acknowledged are both noble . We knov of no other conatnunity that would challenge suet enquiry , or would tolerate the answer . Th < Friends have done this in the face of the world freely , bravely , and , we believe , with results .. bj which then * cause will be much benefited . Mr . Hancock ' s work has a long explanatory title in addition to that which we have given . He styles it " An endeavour to throw light on some of the causes of the decline of the Society of Fi-iends ,
especially in regard to its original claim ol being the peculiar people of G-od . " His main argument we have ourselves anticipated in a late article , in which we pointed out that a religious dispensation , even the most sacred , was necessarily limited to a term ; that the close of an age comes to each and all , and that no . church ever existed that had other than a provisional character . Mr . Hancock , indeed , takes high philosophic ground . Social death , is the law of all societies . They were borm and , like individuals , they must die .
' •* The old Ethnic age died a natural death ; the Renaissance could not revive it—it only galvanised an imitation of it . The Mediaeval age could not keep itself alive ; and all the earnest and romantic men in Christendom , striving unitedly , would never revive it . Egypt , Greece . Rome , the Gothic kingdoms died , as our friends have done—as we ourselves shall do—because they must . So far as Quakerism is a society made up of men and women , we must expect to see it obey the universal law of social death . It would appear strange and disorderly if ifc alone continued fresh , lively anJ boaring fruit . ¦ _ - ¦ - ..,.. diviner
" Nor does the comprehension of a purpose and of spiritual strength exempt any society from this imperturbable law . The State and the Church have been served and thwarted by society after society , which begun in the spirit and ended iu the flesh . Old philosophical schools , Hindoo and Chinese brotherhoods , early anchorites and monks , tho Benedictines , the Franciscans and Dominicans , the firsts Protestants the Puritans , the Methodists , banded them selves together to know wisdom , to do the will of God , to fulfil all righteousness , to become the most utter and unresisting organs and instruments of the bpiBiT , to save the world , to reform the Church , to live an flntirelv spiritual life , to taste the eternal life into
which death cannot enter ; yet these awful intuitions , these sublime purposes , could not preserve them ; they are all either dying or dead . The morbid ana unspiritual societies which Quakerism arose to witness against , had assumed at their birth that very position toward older societies which Quakerism was assuming toward them . They behoved and proclaimed the same things against pi » or societU » which Quakerism was proclaiming against them . We should naturally expect that Quakerism would follow them , and that it is even now marching with more or less haste , overtaken by some but overtaking others , in that valley of the shadow of death where the old spiritual societies of the world are « m » nr lvimr dead or dying . It would bo wonderful the
indeed , if , like the Prophet Ezekiel in valley or dead bones , Quakerism alone were seen living and vigorous in that most solemn of all the pathways of history and society , the way of perpetual decay and death . " According to Mr . Ha . cock , there is only one society immortal , and that is invisible , and , thougU eternal and catjiolic in essence , always changing its temporal form-tho Church of the . ETeot Quakerism could only bo one of those temporal forms ; at best . One error of its foundation , aa of other churches , was that it assumed to be more than this—that it olaimod to be the Church . Quakerism , therefore , waa , from the first moat uncompromising and moat intolerant , and has ever X ° o P * * P onal & - , £ "TaJS ? other churcLs . Modern Friends have , indeed , been content to admit that Quaker Ism 10 a part of tho Church , " But this admission , as Mr . Hancock has shown , is fatal . If Quakerism U only " a part , it can only have a particular ,
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LITERARY NOTES OF THE WEEK
Literature
LITERATURE
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ICo . 510 . Dec . 31 , 1859 . ] THE LEADEB . 1421
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 31, 1859, page 1421, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2327/page/17/
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