KC15462 1901. Dec. 9. A COMPLETE COURSE IN THE STUDY OF ENGLISH. Spelling, Language, Grammar, Composition, Literature. Reed's Word Lessons-A Complete Speller. Reed's Introductory Language Work. Reed & Kellogg's Graded Lessons in English. Kellogg & Reed's The English Language. Kellogg's Illustrations of Style. Kellogg's Text-Book on English Literature. In the preparation of this series the authors have had one object MAYNARD, MERRILL, & Co., PUBLISHERS, 43, 45, and 47 East Tenth St., New York. TRANSFERRED TO HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY Copyright, 1892, by EFFINGHAM MAYNARD & Co. LIFE OF MACAULAY. THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY, the great historian of England, was born at Rothley, near Leicester, in 1800, and was named Thomas Babington after his uncle. Macaulay's grandfather was a Scotch minister, and his father, Zachary, after having spent some time in Jamaica, returned to England, and joined Wilberforce and Clarkson in their efforts abolish slavery in the British possessions. Macaulay was educated at Bristol and at Cambridge, where he gained great distinction, and twice won medals for his poems. He was also a member of the Union Debating Society, a famous club where young politicians tried their skill in the discussion of the affairs of State. He took his degree of M.A. in 1825, was called to the bar in 1826, and contributed extensively to Knight's Quarterly Magazine, in which his first literary efforts appeared, including among others the ballads of "The Spanish Armada " and " The Battle of Ivry." In 1825 he contributed to the Edin burgh Review his celebrated article on Milton, and this was succeeded by numerous others on various themes, historical, political, and literary, which were afterward collected and published separately. Macaulay was a member of Parliament first for Colne, then for Leeds, and took part in the great discussions connected with the Reform Bill of 1832. In return for his services to his party, he was sent to India in 1834 as a member of the Council, and while there wrote his famous essays on Lord Clive and Warren Hastings. In 1839 Macaulay returned to England, was elected member for Edinburgh, and, during the eight years of his connection with that city, held successively the offices of Secretary at War and Paymaster-General of the Forces. In 1842 he gave to the world his spirited "Lays of Ancient Rome." In 1847 he displeased his Edinburgh supporters, and in a pet they rejected him; but in 1852 they re-elected him of their own accord, and in this way endeavored to atone for the past. He devoted the interval between these two dates to his History of England, the first two volumes of which were published in 1848, two others making their appearance in 1855. They form a magnificent fragment of historical writing, embracing a period of little more than twelve years, from the accession of James II. to the Peace of Ryswick, in 1697. A fifth volume, compiled from the papers which he left 3 behind, and bringing the work down to the death of William III., was published posthumously in 1859. He retired from Parliament in 1856, owing to failing health, and in the following year he was created a baron in consideration of his great literary merit. In 1859 he died suddenly of disease of the heart, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Lord Macaulay excelled as a poet and essayist, but he is chiefly illustrious as a historian. In the opening chapter of his History of England the author announces his intention to write a history from the accession of James II. down to a time within the memory of men still living. Its success was very great. History was no longer dry and uninviting, for Macaulay had become a painter as well as a chronicler. The events of the past are depicted in such fresh and striking coloring that they have all the interest of absolute novelty. We have life-like portraits of the great men of the age, landscapes and street scenes, spirit-stirring descriptions of insurrections and trials and sieges, and graphic pictures of manners and customs. Macaulay had a very wonderful memory, of which he was proud, and he was able to collect and retain stores of information from all manner of old books, papers, and parchments, and to make use of them in the production of his history. He is not always impartial, but sufficiently so to be considered the best authority on that portion of history with which he deals. Macaulay's personal appearance was never better described than in two sentences of Praed's Introduction to Knight's Quarterly Magazine: "There comes up a short manly figure, marvelously upright, with a bad neckcloth, and one hand in his waistcoat pocket. Of regular beauty he had little to boast; but in faces where there is an expression of great power, or great good humor, or both, you do not regret its absence." This picture, in which every touch is correct, tells us all that there is to be told. He had a massive head, and features of a powerful and rugged cast; but so constantly lighted up by every joyful and ennobling emotion, that it mattered little if, when absolutely quiescent, his face was rather homely than handsome. While conversing at table, no one thought him otherwise than good-looking; but when he rose he was seen to be short and stout in figure. He at all times sat and stood straight, full, and square. He dressed badly, but not cheaply. His clothes, though ill put on, were good, and his wardrobe was always enormously over-stocked. Macaulay was bored in the best of society, but took unceasing delight in children. He was the best of playfellows unrivaled in the invention of games, and never weary of repeating them. SKETCH OF PITT'S LIFE. WILLIAM PITT, Earl of Chatham, sometimes styled Pitt the Elder, one of the greatest English orators and statesmen of the 18th century, was the son of a country gentleman, Robert Pitt, of Boconnoc, in Cornwall, and was born November 15, 1708. After an education at Eton and' Oxford, he traveled on the continent, and on his return obtained a cornetcy in the Blues. In 1735 he entered Parliament for Old Sarum,-that synonym for electoral corruption, -a borough then belonging to his family. He espoused the side of Frederick, Prince of Wales, then at deadly feud with the king, and offered a determined opposition to Walpole, who was at the head of affairs. He was deprived of his commission in consequence-an insult and injury which only increased the vehemence of his denunciations of the court and the government. His influence, both in and out of the House of Commons, increased rapidly; and Walpole being driven from power, the king, notwithstanding his hatred of Pitt, found it necessary to allow of his admission to a subordinate place in the Broad Bottom Administration*; subsequently he was appointed to the lucrative office of paymaster-general. The Duchess of Marlborough, pleased with his patriotism and powers of oratory, left him £10,000; later, Sir William Pynsent, struck with similar admiration, left him his whole property. In 1755, when Henry Fox (afterwards Lord Holland) was made secretary of state, finding himself opposed to the for *The Broad Bottom Administration was the name derisively applied to the ministry formed by Henry Pelham in 1744, because it professed to include all parties of weight in the state in grand coalition, and comprised no less than nine dukes. The ministry was dissolved by the death of Pelham in 1754. 5 |