THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY was born October 25, 1800. His father, Zachary Macaulay, was an earnest advocate in England of the emancipation of slaves in the English colonies in the West Indies, and ardently desired to see his son in public life. Macaulay had a brilliant. career in the University of Cambridge, and after graduation he appeared first as a champion of the anti-slavery cause, but quickly turned to literature, and wrote an essay on Milton which brought him renown. He did not forsake the notion of public life, however, and was sent to Parliament when he was thirty-two years old. He continued to serve either in Parliament or in office under government from 1832 to 1856. During that time he made many speeches, and was connected with many great movements, but he left his mark in English history, not as a statesman, but as a splendid writer of prose, and of some striking poems. His essays covered a large array of subjects in English literature, history, and biography, and were as popular as novels. He wrote a History of England, which will be read by many for its attractive style, and its rapid sketches of persons and scenes, even when the readers may think that Macaulay wrote with his mind full of partisan beliefs as to the people about whom he was writing. He was a remarkable talker. His memory was very capacious, and when any topic was started he could pour out a steady stream of most interesting disquisition on the subject. An English wit, Sydney Smith, who also had a reputation as a brilliant talker, used to be greatly annoyed when he was one of the same company; he could scarcely get in a word. Later, when Macaulay had lost some of his superabundant health, there was more opportunity for others, and Smith said one day: "Macaulay is improved! Yes, Macaulay is improved! I have observed in him of late flashes of silence." He was raised to the peerage in 1857, and died December 28, 1859. The poetry by which Macaulay is known is wholly of one kind. With his historical tastes, and his love of eloquence, he conceived the notion of turning into ballad form some of the stories of Roman history. He chose an easy, swinging measure, and rushed along in it with the rich diction which, as in his history, made his readers listen enchanted, and unmindful of any lapses in accuracy or coloring of simple matters. The main group of poems which he wrote was called Lays of Ancient Rome, and it is the first one in the group which is here given. HORATIUS. A LAY MADE ABOUT THE YEAR OF THE CITY CCCLX. The foundation of Rome is estimated to have been about 753 years before Christ. According to legendary history, there was a dynasty of Etruscan kings, Tarquinius Priscus, Servius Tullius, and Tarquinius Superbus, that ruled Rome successively; but the tyranny of the house became so hateful that the people finally banished the Tarquinian family and set up a republic, governed by two magistrates called consuls, chosen annually. This was in the year 244. The Tarquinian family attempted to return to power, first by intrigue and then by open war, making an alliance with Porsena, who ruled over Etruria. The ballad that follows narrates the exploit of Horatius when the city was defending itself; but it is supposed to have been made a hundred and twenty years after the war which it celebrates, and just before the taking of Rome by the Gauls. "The author," says Macaulay, 66 'seems to have been an honest citizen, proud of the military glory of his country, sick of the disputes of factions, and much given to pining after good old times which had never really existed." 5 1 LARS PORSENA of Clusium By the Nine Gods he swore Should suffer wrong no more. 1. Lars in the Etruscan tongue signified chieftain. Clusium is the modern Chiusi. 2. The Romans had a tradition that there were nine great Etruscan gods. And bade his messengers ride forth, 2 10 East and west and south and north 15 And tower and town and cottage Have heard the trumpet's blast. Who lingers in his home, Is on the march for Rome. 3 The horsemen and the footmen 20 From many a stately market-place, 25 Which, hid by beech and pine, Like an eagle's nest, hangs on the crest Of purple Apennine; 4 From lordly Volaterræ, Where scowls the far-famed hold 26. Volaterra, modern Volterra. 27. "The situation of the Etruscan towns is one of the most striking characteristics of Tuscan scenery. Many of them occupy surfaces of table-land surrounded by a series of gullies not visible from a distance. The traveller thus may be a whole day reaching a place which in the morning may have seemed to him but a little way off.” — Dennis, Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria. Piled by the hands of giants Whose sentinels descry 5 From the proud mart of Pisa, 6 Tall are the oaks whose acorns Drop in dark Auser's rill; Fat are the stags that champ the boughs 45 Of the Ciminian hill; Beyond all streams Clitumnus Is to the herdsman dear; Best of all pools the fowler loves The great Volsinian mere. 34. Pisa, now Pisa. 36. Massilia, the ancient Marseilles, which originally was & Greek colony and a great commercial centre. 37. The fair-haired slaves were doubtless slaves from Gaul, bought and sold by the Greek merchants. 38. Clanis, the modern la Chicana. 43. The Auser was a tributary stream of the river Arno. 46. Clitumnus, Clituno in modern times. 49. Volsinian mere, now known as Lago di Bolsena. |