two prize poems and a scholarship.  He was graduated in 1822, and afterwards continued his studies; producing, during the next four years, several of his stirring ballads.  He began to write for the Edinburgh Review in 1825.  In 1830 he entered Parliament, and was immediately noted for his brilliant oratory in advocating liberal principles.  In 1834 he was sent to India, as a member of the Supreme Council; and took a prominent part in preparing an Indian code of laws.  This code was published on his return to England, in 1838; but it was so kind and considerate to the natives, that the martinets in India defeated its adoption.  From his return until 1847, he had a seat in Parliament as member for Edinburgh; but in the latter year his support of the grant to the Maynooth (Roman Catholic) College so displeased his constituents, that in the next election he lost his seat.

During all these busy years he had been astonishing and delighting the reading world by his truly brilliant papers in the Edinburgh Review, which have been collected and published as Miscellanies.  The subjects were of general interest; their treatment novel and bold; the learning displayed was accurate and varied; and the style pointed, vigorous, and harmonious.  The papers upon Clive and Hastings are enriched by his intimate knowledge of Indian affairs, acquired during his residence in that country.  His critical papers are severe and satirical, such as the articles on Croker’s Boswell, and on Mr. Robert Montgomery’s Poems.  His unusual self-reliance as a youth led him to great vehemence in the expression of his opinions, as well as into errors of judgment, which he afterwards regretted.  The radicalism which is displayed in his essay on Milton was greatly modified when he came to treat of kindred subjects in his History.

THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND.—­He had long cherished the intention of writing the history of England, “from the accession of James II. down to a time which is within the memory of men still living.”  The loss of his election at Edinburgh gave him the leisure necessary for carrying out this purpose.  In 1848 he published the first and second volumes, which at once achieved an unprecedented popularity.  His style had lost none of its brilliancy; his reading had been immense; his examination of localities was careful and minute.  It was due, perhaps, to this growing fame, that the electors of Edinburgh, without any exertion on his part, returned him to Parliament in 1852.  In 1855 the third and fourth volumes of his History appeared, bringing the work down to the peace of Ryswick, in 1697.  All England applauded the crown when he was elevated to the peerage, in 1857, as Baron Macaulay of Rothley.

It was now evident that Macaulay had deceived himself as to the magnitude of his subject; at least, he was never to finish it.  He died suddenly of disease of the heart, on the 28th of December, 1859; and all that remained of his History was a fragmentary volume, published after his death by his sister, Lady Trevelyan, which reaches the death of William III., in 1702.