New-York tribune., 1881-09-25
AACAULATS INTELLECTU4L DEFECT
From The ST. Jomes's Ga-etfe.

FROM me ~, J0MeS'6 gazette.
Five years have elapsed the irst edition of
MI. Irevciyaus Llfe and Letters of Lord Ma.
gaulay was published. We stili believe that Mr.
Ireveyan's hook is the best biography which has
appeared in England since Cariyie'S Life of Ser-
ling And we still think that it would bc much
improved by the cXcision of a great deal of publ,
and domestic gossip. 1t is clear, too, without
entering INTO the question whether Mr.. Trcvelyans
book has. on the whole, raised or lowered Ma
caulay's reputation that, far at least as some
MINOR inhrmlties OF taste and temper concerned
! the nephew has proclaimed what the uncle would
certainly have concealed ON the Other hand we
doubt whether he has brought into sufficient relief
tue most salient defect in his uncle's chnractnr
tie acquiesces in The Spectators assertion that the
habit oi lmputng motives was Macauay one
intelectual vice." and is charmed beyond measure
that this is the vice of rectItudc." If Macaulav
is really open To the charge of hahitualy indulging
/ IS not TO be cleared by mere phrase of this kind
For unless Ihe Spectator means by rectitude" the
iectitude OF Fharisce, the addendum IL simply
not true. And although false ethical maxim may
deserve 10 be called smart it never deserve
TO be called fine or merit considerations
we neither assert nor deny THAI Macaulay must
plead guilty to the indictment thus brought against
the vice of rectitnde" is by no means the sole
intellectual vice which can be laid at his door
Ills great intellectual detect was tendency TO
harbor what Butler in his sermon on resentment
calls "A certain determination aud rrsoute bent of
the mind not 10 be convinced or set right; or
charge serious-nOt to confess and admit that
I he was convinced and set right.
A curious example OF this weakness will be found
IN the we-knOwn essay Crokers edition of
BOswePs 4" Late of Johnson .; and 1T is one which
owing to MaCaulays silence, is not generally
known. At the lime OF the Reform Bill Macaulay
I sat tor Calue. The northumberland of that
borough not the least OF the many nanuu vres
which made Whiggery and jobhery at that time
/ 20 near TO be thOught synonymous terms. 4
very kccnly any tauntS Il subject and
Croker was man of abilities overrated 1t is true
IN the heyday of his influence. but quite adequate
TO the cOngcula task OF Z" making the CALLED Jade
vince" The member for Calne was naturally
extremely annoyed by his advcrsary's attacks; AMI
ha hfg Itu,,
do not dust that varlcts jacket for him in the next
humber of the Blue and Yellow" lie was more
/ than as good as hls word. But while dustlng
Mr Crokers jacket III way which his own ad
mlrers must always regret, he stumbled hns elf
him Croker had confessed that he ionad % the 1fE o
lowing conpct, attributed to Sir William Jones'
unlntelliglble:
six hours to law TO soothing slurnbers seven
Ten 10 the world allot, aud all to heaven.
Macaulay thereupon declared that he did not think
4 it was in human dulness to mss tine meaning of
these lines-that Sir William Jones had distributed
twentythree hours among various cnployments--
that one hour was thus left for devotion the
whole point of the couplet consisted in the unex-
pected substitution of g" al" Tor one that the
conceit was wretched enough. but perfectly intel
1glble, and had never, he would venture to say,
perplcXcd man, woman or child before. SO far so
good. But II was discovered that Sir William Jones
and all this good nvectlve to naught. 1t i'm
possible to doubt that Macaulay made aware of
julius Hare in The Fhttot0gical JOaraat; and to
imagine that reader 50 omniverous Macauay
WOull n6BleCJ IL puDuCatlOn 10 WHCn All Ll6 best
Cambridge men OF his day were contributing, or, in
the all but impossible event OF his doing sO that no
good-natured friend would tell him OF the article
is a suppositi0n that cannot be entertained The
biunder itself as venlal as II was silly; but
the way i'll winch it's perpetrator dealt with 1T
silly lin the end IL the reverse of vena
timld and cautious would have silently
cancelled the passage. bolder and more genial
one would have let it stand with confession of
error appended in foot note MaCaulay took
neither of these and there stands the pas
sage, a monument OF the nonsense which resent
ment will lead an able man to write.