emorseless criticism, but reflecting little credit on his
disposition or his judgment. His Hampden (1831) and his Burleigh (1832)
remain among his finest and most inspiring historical paintings. His
first essay on Lord Chatham (1834) is a notable piece of
characterization; the one on Sir James Mackintosh (1835) is a most acute
and brilliant historical criticism; the one on Lord Bacon (1837) is
striking and has become famous, but shows Macaulay's deficiency in
philosophic thought, besides being sophistical in spirit; and the
article on Sir William Temple (1837)--really a history of England during
the reign of William III.--is thoroughly fine.

Macaulay's residence in India, so far as political ambition was
concerned, may have been a mistake. It withdrew him from an arena in
which he could have risen to great distinction and influence as a
parliamentary orator. He might have been a second Fox, whom he resembled
in the impetuosity of his rhetoric, if he had also possessed Fox's
talents as a debater. Yet he was not a born leader of men. As a
parliamentary orator he was simply a speech-maker, like the Unitarian
minister Fox, or that still abler man the Quaker Bright, both of whom
were great rhetoricians. It is probable that he himself understood his
true sphere, which was that of a literary man,--an historical critic,
appealing to intelligent people rather than to learned pedants in the
universities. His service in India enabled him to write for the
remainder of his life with an untrammelled pen, and to live in comfort
and ease, enjoying the _otium cum dignitate_, to which he attached
supreme importance,--so different from Carlyle, who toiled in poverty at
Chelsea to declare truth for truth's sake, grumbling, yet lofty in his
meditations, the depth of which Macaulay was incapable of appreciating.

It is, then, as a man of letters rather than as a politician that our
author merits his exalted fame. Respectable as a member of the House of
Commons, or as a jurist in India in compiling a code of laws, yet
neither as a statesman nor as a jurist was he in his right place. The
leaders of his party may have admired and praised his oratory, but they
wanted something more practical than orations,--they wanted the control
of men; and so, too, the government demanded a code which would exact
the esteem of lawyers and meet the wants of India rather than a
composition which would read well. But as an historical critic and a
luminous writ