The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1876-07-02
LORD MACAuLAY.

Inc recent pubucatlOn OF the Lie OF L0rd
Msoaulay by hisnephew, Mr. Trevelysn. recalls
to our mind the enthusiasm awakened by his
essays and other works in our early days
Thomas Darlington Maoaulsy was essentially
self-made man. By his own efforts. signslly
successful, it is true, he assembled gradually
from poverty to the peersge. The son Of o
Calvinist father and o Quaker mother, he did
not follow the creed Of either, but was, in and
out of Parliament an earnest, eloquent advo-
cate of civil and religious liberty. Several
pleasant anecdotes of bis childhood are given
"From the time he was three years old he
read iucessantly, for the most part lying ON
the rug before she fire, with his book ON the
@r PIECE OF Hh an Mo %asses ~ fo nns
of relating how she called at Lord Meesulay's,
and waa met by q fair. pretty child. With
age, who came TO the front door to receive her,
aud tell her that his parents were out. but that
If she would be good enough to come in he
sition which greatly startled the good lady.
who never aspired beyond cowslip. wine: Whom
Questioned as to what he knew about old
sSod only
Of ground at the back of the house, marked out
as his own by row of oyster shells, which q
maid threw away one day IS rubbish. He went
straight to the drawing-room. where his
mother was entertaining some visitors, walked
into the circle, and said very eolemnly, "Cursed
removeth his neighbours landmark"
1t may be q matter Of consolation tolmany an
idle lad, that Tom Macaulay had mortal ha-
tired of going to school. Every day he begged
most piteously to be allowed to stay at home,
even for half q day. but to all his entreaties his
sensible mother replied, No, Tom, if it rains
cats and dogs, you shall CO." She was not
afraid of overtaxing his brain. While mere
youth, Macaulsy obtained distinction in his
peculiar line of literature. His fame rests
chiefly on his Essays, the style Of which is un-
surpsss. for brilliancy and clearness. Cardi-
nal Wiseman prognosticated that his sparkling
History Of England would yet be laid on the
shelf rs o romance. William of Orange, that
ill-natured little warrior who hardly ever
gained victory, is his great idol, and James II.
his antipathy. Even the heroic wife Of this un-
fortunate prince who owes ali his unpopularity
to his conversion to the Catholic Faith, cannot,
for all her beauty and goodness, find favor in
in the eyes of the great essayist; but, happily,
Mary Beatrice rs queen, wife, mother and
widow, is too we'll known and appreciated to
be injured by the censures of she Dutch Kings
apologist.
Macsulay's residence in India hardly inter-
rupted his literary pursuits. His administra-
ton in that distant region gave general salts
faction, although he was the theme of many an
invective In prose and verse, the most pathetic
of which was an ode which began:
Soon we hope thsy will recall 20.
Tom Maoaoisy, Tom Macaulay."
In his own faulty MacsulSy was certainly q
| most lovable character. His love for his
mother, his sisters, his nieces and nephews
amounted to passion. He was to some extent
| bigoted, but We think his bigotry arose moro
from early associations. and the ordinary mat
ter of his reading, than from really preiudiced
mind. On reading Msnzoni's PrsMisSi Sposi
{" The Betrothed,") he describes himself az
shedding many tears. "If the Church of Rome,
| he adds, "reslly were what Msnzoni represents
her to be, should be tempted to follow New
mans example," (Vol. 2, p. 344.)
What pity MaOaulay came 60 near the truth,
vet failed to seize it. In the copious accounts
he gives in his journal Of the work over which
he spent his d0ys, mention is scarcely ever
made Of Catholic book.
Yet who has equalled Maoaulay in describing
the infamies of the Protestant Church, from ite
foundation to his own dsy Z No Ultramoutane
however enthusiastic, could do the Protestant
lfChurch of Irelsnd moro soathing justice thar
the great essayist has done in the following
passage;
"Of ali the Institutions now existing In the
civilized world, the Established Church Of Ire
, land seems to me the most absurd. ls ther'
| ANYTHING else likeitq Was there ever anything
else like Isl The world is full of ecclesiastioa
establishments. Bot such q portent as TIL
Church (Prctestant) of Ireland is nowhere to b.
= found Look around the Continent Of Europe
Ecclesiastical establishments from the Whit
I Sea to the Mediterranean, ecclesiastiesi estan
? lishments from the Volga to the Atlantic; bu
/. nowhere the Church Of . minority eD)oylnge1
elusive establishment.
4 Elm one country slone-in Ireland alone
to be seen the spectacle of community OF eigh
d millions of human beings with aChurSh whlc
=. 1.-TWO hundred and eighty 1--WE years has th
Church been at work. What could have bee
done for il in the way of authority, privilege
~ endovmente. which has not been donef Did an
Ii other set of Bishops and parsons in the worl
aver receive SO much for doing 80 littlef Ma
receive half as much for doing twice as niue
And what nave We to show for all this lavish g.
nanditnra9 What, but the most Jealous Roma