Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-05-10
MACAULAY IN EARLY LIFE.
Anecdotes OF His Early Life and
Associations In England.

Anecdotes OF His Early Life and
association In England.
From the lately published life
and letters of Lord Macaulay, the
following description of his fathers
family when Macaulay was in Lon
don studying for the bar, are Sc
lected: The fun that went on in
Great 0rmand street was of a joyial,
and sometimes uproarous, descrip-
ton. Even when the family was
by itself, the school-room and the
drawing-room were full of young
people, and friends and cousins
flocked in numbers to a resort
where so much fun and merriment
were perpetually on foot. There
were seasons during the school
holidays when the house overfowed
with fun and frolic from morning
till night, and Macaulay, who at
any period of his life could literally
spend whole days in playing with
children, was master Of the limo
cent revels.
Games of hide-and-seek, that
lasted for hours, with shoutings
and the blowing of horns up and
down the stairs and through every
room, were varied by ballads.
which, like the Scalsed of old, he
composed during the act of recita-
ton, while the others struck in
with the chorus. He had no no
ton whatever Of music, but an un-
failing ear for rhythm. His knack
Of improvisation he at all times ex-
ercised freely. The verses which
he thus produced, and which he in
yariably attributed to an anony-
nous author whom he styled the
the Judicious Poet, were exclusively
for home consumption. = = :
he did not play upon words as a
habit, nor did he interlard many
with far-fetched or overstrained
witticisms. His humor, like his
rhetoric, was full Of force and sub
stance, and arose naturally from the
complexion of the conversation or
the circumstances of the moment.
But when alone with his sisters.
and in after years with his nieoes,
he was fond Of setting himself de.
liberately to manufacture conceits
resembling those on the heroes Of
the Trojan war which have been
thought worthy Of publication in
the collected works of Swift. When
walking in London he would under
take to give some droll turn to the
name Of every shopkeeper in the
street, and when travelling, the
name Of all stations along the line.
At home he would run through the
countries of Europe, the States OF
the Union and chief cities of our
Indian Empire, the provinces Of
France, the prime ministers OF
England, and the chief writer's and
artists Of any given country-strik.
ing off puns, admirable, endurable
and ~execrable, but all irresistably
laughable, which followed each
other in showers like sparks from
flint. Gaping verses was a game
Of which he was never tired.
"In the spring Of 1922" says his
cousin, Mrs. Conybeare, eve were
staying in 0rmond street. Ny CHIEF
recollection Of your uncle during
that visit is on the evenings when
we capped verses. All the family
were quick at it, but his astounding
memory made him supereminent.
When the time came for him to be
off to bed at his chambers, he would
rush out Of the room after utterine
some ~long-sought line, and would
be pursued to. the top Of the stairs
by one of the others who had con-
triYed to recall a verse which served
the purpose, in order that he might
not leave the house victorious; but
he, with The hall door open IN his
hand, would shrek back a GROWING
effort and 90 off trinmnhantN