but, to my thinking, it is neither fish nor flesh. There
is too much, and too little, of the antique about it. Nothing but the
most strictly classical costume can reconcile me to a mythological plot;
and Ion is a modern philanthropist, whose politics and morals have been
learned from the publications of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful
Knowledge.

I do not know whether the noise which the lawyers of the Supreme Court
have been raising against our legislative authority has reached, or
will reach, England. They held a public meeting, which ended,--or rather
began, continued, and ended,--in a riot; and ever since then the leading
agitators have been challenging each other, refusing each other's
challenges, libelling each other, swearing the peace against each other,
and blackballing each other. Mr. Longueville Clarke, who aspires to
be the O'Connell of Calcutta, called another lawyer a liar. The
last-mentioned lawyer challenged Mr. Longueville Clarke. Mr. Longueville
Clarke refused to fight, on the ground that his opponent had been
guilty of hugging attorneys. The Bengal Club accordingly blackballed
Longueville. This, and some other similar occurrences, have made the
opposition here thoroughly ridiculous and contemptible. They will
probably send a petition home; but, unless the House of Commons has
undergone a great change since 1833, they have no chance there.

I have almost brought my letter to a close without mentioning the most
important matter about which I had to write. I dare say you have heard
that my uncle General Macaulay, who died last February, has left me
L10,000 This legacy, together with what I shall have saved by the end of
1837, will make me quite a rich man; richer than I even wish to be as a
single man; and every day renders it more unlikely that I should marry.

We have had a very unhealthy season; but sickness has not come near our
house. My sister, my brother-in-law, and their little child, are as well
as possible. As to me, I think that, as Buonaparte said of himself after
the Russian campaign, J'ai le diable au corps.

Ever yours affectionately

T. B. MACAULAY.

To Macvey Napier, Esq.

Calcutta: November 26, 1836.

Dear Napier,--At last I send you an article of interminable length about
Lord Bacon. I hardly know whether it is not too long for an article in a
Review; but the subject is of such vast extent that I could easily have
made the paper twice as long as it is.

About the hi