Macaulay\'s Essay on Lord Clive by Eugene D. Holmes (editor) HC 1912 For Sale

THOMAS BABINGION MaCAUlAY, undoubtedly the most popular prose writer of the nineteenth century, began life with all the advantages which may come from a refined, intelligent, and strictly moral ancestry, from a generous, winning disposi-tion, and from the possession of extraordinary talents. He was born on the 25th of October, ISoo, at Rothley Temple, the Leicestershire residence of his uncle-in-law, Mr. Thomas Babington. His father, Zachary Macaulay, was the son of a Highland Scotch minister of Dumbartonshire, and until late in life met with considerable success in business. In his early years he went to Jamaica and to Sierra Leone to serve as bookkeeper on certain estates. In Tamaica he was appointed man-ager, and his recognized ability and integrity won him the secretaryship of the Sierra Leone Company at a salary of five hundred pounds a year. In this service he acquired a moderate fortune; but his high, moral nature revolted against the evils of slavery which he saw about him and on his return in 1799 he became a leader in the antislavery movement, a supporter of the Society for the Abolition of Slavery, and editor of the chief organ of that society, the Christian Observer. He possessed the same extraordinary powers of work and strength of memory as afterward marked the activities of his son. The Macaulay home was frequented by serious and able men who Were active in the proposed reform.The wife of ZacharyMacaulay (née Selina Mills), a quaker by birth, and a pupil of the sisters of Hannah More, was a woman of considerable talent. From her the son probably inherited the wonderful...(intro)