se in which there is a slight mixture of
caricature, and we are not certain that the best histories are not those in
which a little of the exaggeration of fictitious narrative is judiciously
employed. Something is lost in accuracy, but much is gained in
effect."[243] Whether this estimate of historical writing be true or false,
Macaulay employed it in his own work and made his narrative as absorbing as
a novel. To all his characters he gives the reality of flesh and blood, and
in his own words he "shows us over their houses and seats us at their
tables." All that is excellent, but it has its disadvantages. In his
admiration for heroism, Macaulay makes some of his characters too good and
others too bad. In his zeal for details he misses the importance of great
movements, and of great leaders who are accustomed to ignore details; and
in his joy of describing events he often loses sight of underlying causes.
In a word, he is without historical insight, and his work, though
fascinating, is seldom placed among the reliable histories of England.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. To the reader who studies Macaulay's brilliant
essays and a few chosen chapters of his _History_, three things soon become
manifest. First, Macaulay's art is that of a public speaker rather than
that of a literary man. He has a wonderful command of language, and he
makes his meaning clear by striking phrases, vigorous antitheses,
anecdotes, and illustrations. His style is so clear that "he who runs may
read," and from beginning to end he never loses the attention of his
readers. Second, Macaulay's good spirits and enthusiasm are contagious. As
he said himself, he wrote "out of a full head," chiefly for his own
pleasure or recreation; and one who writes joyously generally awakens a
sense of pleasure in his readers. Third, Macaulay has "the defect of his
qualities." He reads and remembers so much that he has no time to think or
to form settled opinions. As Gladstone said, Macaulay is "always conversing
or recollecting or reading or composing, but reflecting never." So he wrote
his brilliant _Essay on Milton_, which took all England by storm, and said
of it afterward that it contained "scarcely a paragraph which his mature
judgment approved." Whether he speaks or writes, he has always before him
an eager audience, and he feels within him the born orator's power to hold
and fascinate. So he gives loose rein to his enthusiasm, quotes from a
hundred books, and in his