We may guess the ugly names which, in the performance of his sacred duty, he heaps on his victim. But Macaulay is not the only tailless fox among us. And so, in this frame of humility, he proceeds with his devotional exercise. The cold welcome given to his favourite sets the essayist to mourn over the scanty recognition accorded to living virtue. Truly a sincere, wise, and consistent world.
Nothing is more striking throughout the whole book than the scorn in which the world is held.
No epithets are abusive enough for it. There is no subject into which they are not ready to plunge at the shortest notice. It all comes so easy to them. One writer settles the philosophical position of Plato and Bacon in a page and three quarters. It is strange how those who are just learning bum to teach, and think all idiots and fools who will not listen to them.