The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-14 00:00:00

LORD MACAULAY.

(From the Edinburgh Review.)
The melancholy event which suddenly terminates
the labours of the most illustrious man of letters
whom England had in this age produced, claims in
so peculiar a manner from ourselves the expression
of that sorrow and regard which are shared by the
whole nation, that we hesitate not to depart on this
occasion from the usage of our journal, and to record
in these lines our sense of so irreparable a loss.
Others will relate, as long as literary history ex-
cites the sympathy and the curiosity of future ages,
the varied and inexhaustible gifts which marked
out Thomas Babington Macaulay from all his con-
temporaries. The astonishing activity of his mind
had ranged from early youth through every path
of literary research ; the capacity and precision of
his memory retained and arranged for instant use
every page, every thought, every incident, and
every name which had at any time attracted his
attention. All ha read, all he knew—and what
had he not read ? what did ho not know ?—was
reflected by some spectral process on his memory,
where it remained, subject to no change but that
of mortality. Accordingly the studies of his earlier
years, the sublime language of the Hebrew Scrip-
tures, the tragic grandeur of the Athenian stage,
the eloquence and wisdom of the orators and his-
torians of antiquity, and even the discourses of the
Christian Fathers, formed the basis of his mental
culture, and were no less present to his mind
than every other part of the vast structure of mo-
dern literature and history he raised upon
it. Brit while the universal range of his
acquirements had rendered him familiar with all _
that was beautiful and elevated in the literature of
other ages and other lands, the focus of his genius
centred in the history, the language, and. the lite-
rary life of England. Profoundly versed in the
story of her growth, and imbued with the spirit of
her freedom ; admirably skilled in the use of his
mother-tongue, of which it may be said, as Words-
worth said of Milton, that in his hands " the thing
became a trumpet ;" incredibly familiar with the
writings and the life of every man who has left a
trace in the letters of this country, till he seemed
to have the power of recalling the dead by the
vivacity of his own impressions of them, Lord Ma-
caulay was essentially English in his habits of
thought and in his tastes. The strongest of all his
feelings were the love and pride excited in him by
his native land, for he knew her and admired her,
not only as the England of this age, but from the
dawn of her annals to the fulness of her strength.
In other men gifted with these extraordinary
powers of memory, it has been remarked that the
mind is over-burdened with its own stores, and that
powers of vigorous thought are not unfrequently
wanting to animate and control the mass of acquired
knowledge. The intellect of Lord Macaulay was
more perfectly constituted. He combined so vivid.
an imagination with so solid a judgment, that if he
had not been a great historian he might have passed
down to posterity as a great poet; and, while the
amount of his intellectual wealth would have over-
whelmed a mind of less original power, with him it
remained subordinate to the genius of the master.
No man was more remarkable for the nice discrimi-
nation of his critical powers, or for the ingenious
combinations by which he threw a new and ♦ivid
light on the course of events, the play of human, cha-
racter, and the principles he lived to advocate and
defend. it was this which gave so wonderful a charm
to his style; every sentence was instinct with life ;
every word touched by his pen left its mark ; and.
the same spell which captivated the most accom-
plished of his contemporaries, and overruled the
hostility of his antagonists, gave him an unequalled
popularity wherever the language of England is
ut. sl.n.stood or admired.

We speak of Lord Macaulay mainly as a man of
letters, because without doubt that is his chief glory
and his most imperishable character ; for, although
we have seen and admired the part he sometimes
filled in political debate, and his speeches in the
House of Commons were not unworthy of himself,
he early discerned that he was the heir of a loftier
fame than political services can earn, or political
distinctions confer. When called by the just fa-
vour of the Crown to the august ranks of the British
peerage, and to that senate which, alas, he was
never able to address, the nation felt that his coro-
net rested upon his matchless literary eminence,
and not upon mere party connexion. No peerage
conferred by a Minister was ever more cordially
sanctioned by the nation, for it was felt that the
lustre thrown by his genius upon the peerage sur-
passed the distinction conferred by the peerage
upon himself. No doubt Lord Macaulay was strongly
attached to his political friends, and deeply imbued
with those immortal principles which have assigned
to the Whig party so glorious a share in the an-
nals and government of this country. But he raised
those principles to a higher power. He gave them
a broader and more universal character. He traced
them along the mighty streams of history, and he
expanded them till they reached the noblest des-
tinies of man. Enshrined in the memorable Essays
which first appeared in the pages of this journal,
and embodied in the great History which, though
still incomplete, includes the most remarkable epoch
and the most formidable crisis of British constitu-
tional freedom, these truths will be remembered in
the language he gave them when Parliamentary
orators and the contentions of statesmen are for-
gotten. Above all things his public career was sin-
gularly high-minded and pure; he was actuated by
no selfish motives ' • he disdained every vulgar re-
ward, and, bound by principle to the Whig party,
he never made the slightest sacrifice of his own
judgment and independence to the demands of
popular prejudice or to the dictation of authority.
The brilliant efforts of accomplished rhetoric, the
graphic scenes traced by a vivid imagination, the
energetic defence of political principles would, how-
ever, fail to secure to Lord Macaulay that place
which he deserves in the memory of his coun-
trymen if his prodigious intellectual powers had
not been allied to a still nobler temperament. It
has been said by some, who must indeed have
known him imperfectly, and judged him very un-
wcoausld
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do honour to his flame P No one, indeed, who has
lived in, or heard of, the society of London in our
time could be ignorant of the animation and bril-
liancy of his conversation, of the fascinating in-
fluence which drew the hearers round his chair—of
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he was ever ready to assist with his counsel
and fortune those who were struggling in the hum-
bler walks of literary toil ; and if we were at
liberty to follow him into the narrower circle which
bounded his domestic ties, it would be seen that no
man ever lived of a more tender and affectionate
nature. Many are they who at this hour feel, as
we do, they have lost one of the kindest as well as
the greatest of their friends ; and although the
applause and veneration of the world does, in one
sense, perpetuate the existence of so illustrious a
writer, we cannot forget that the virtues and the
graces we loved in his life and conversation have
vanished for ever.

Though singularly inaccessible to the ordinary
temptatians of vanity or ambition, one wish of per-
sonal distinction we know him to have entertained,
and that wish has been fitly fulfilled. He more
than once expressed his earnest desire that his
mortal remains might rest in that sepulture of
England which inspired one of the most exquisite
contemplative essays in the language of Addison,
and which has oftentimes been described as the last
bourne of human renown by Macaulay. Between
the man who made these names immortal there are
now but a few feet of stone; both of them are
gathered in the same spot to the silent company of
their compeers. In that assemblage of poets, ora-
tors, statesmen, and patriots there rests no nobler
Englishman than he whom we have so recently laid
there ; and though other occasions will arise for a
more ample consideration of his genius and his
writings, we drop this tribute of profound sorrow'
upon his grave.

BURNING OF A COTTON-MILL.—A most disastrous
conflagration took place at Blackburn, on Thursday, by
which the Swallow-street spinning mill, of Mr. Henry
Ward, manufacturer, of Whittle adßlackburn, was totally
destroyed. 'r ho fire was discovered in the second story of
the mill about 4 o'clock in the morning, by James Huck-
ing, who lives within a few yars!s of the factory. He at
once gave an alarm, and ran to the police-office to inform
the fire brigade, who had to be called on duty by the firc-
bell. In the course of half-an-hour the corporation fire-
engines were on the spot, but the flames had assumed such
magnitude that the brigade contontod themselves by using
their efforts to save the adjoining valuable property, con-
sisting of a warehouse or storeroom, weaving-shed, engine-
house, &c., and in this duty they were perfectly successful.
At 5 o'clock the roof of the mill fell in with a terrible
crash, and a fierce flame shot up simultaneously and illu-
minated the entire neighbourhood, rendering the sky one
mass of flames, which was visible for about 15 or 20 miles.
Then followed a rapid destruction of the floor and portions
of the walls. At 6 o'clock the building was completely
guttel, and at 7 only the larger portion Of the walls were
left standing, the beams whic they had hitherto supported
being in flames, About noon the whole fire was extin-
guished, and the costly mill, with its 26,000 spindles, was
utterly destroyed. The origin of the fire is unknown, and
although a regular night watchman was employed on the
premises, he does not seem to have given the alarm, or been
cognisant of the fire. The loss, we regret to say, is only par-
tially covered by insurance, to the extent, we understand p
of £15,000.