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PREFACE

TO THE FIFTH VOLUME.

I HAVE thought it right to publish that portion of the continuation of the "History of England" which was fairly transcribed and revised by Lord Macaulay. It is given to the world precisely as it was left; no connecting link has been added; no reference verified; no authority sought for or examined. It would indeed have been possible, with the help I might have obtained from his friends, to have supplied much that is wanting; but I preferred, and I believe the public will prefer, that the last thoughts of the great mind passed away from among us should be preserved sacred from any touch but his own. Besides the revised manuscript, a few pages containing the first rough sketch of the last two months of William's reign are all that is left. From this I have with some difficulty deciphered the account of the death of William. No attempt has been made to join it on to the preceding part, or to supply the corrections which would have been given by the improving hand of the author. But, imperfect as it must be, I believe it will be received with pleasure and interest as a fit conclusion to the life of his great hero.

I will only add my grateful thanks for the kind advice and assistance given me by his most dear and valued friends, Dean Milman and Mr. Ellis.

A MEMOIR

OF

LORD MACAULAY.*

THE biography of Lord Macaulay belongs rather to the history of Literature than to that of Natural Philosophy: he takes his proper place among the statesmen, orators, poets, essayists, historians of England, not among her men of science. With a mind so active and wide-ranging, he could not but take deep interest in the progress and in the marvellous discoveries of modern science; but he was content to accept those results on the authority of others, and to dwell on their political and social consequences, rather than himself to follow out their slow and laborious processes, for which, indefatigable as he was, he had no time, probably no inclination. Yet the annals of the Royal Society, which has ever been proud to enroll among its members statesmen and men of letters of the highest eminence, cannot pass over in silence a name so illustrious as that of Lord Macaulay.

THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY was born October 25, 1800, at Rothley Temple, in Leicestershire, the seat of his paternal uncle, Thomas Babington. His father, Zachary Macaulay, resided at Clapham, one of those earnest and

*This Memoir was written at the request of the President (Sir B. Brodie) and some members of the Council, for the Annual Journal of the Royal Society. Should a more full and copious biography of Lord Macaulay, at any future time, be thought advisable, this brief sketch will at once cede its place. In the mean time, it may be acceptable to the readers of Lord Macaulay's works, who will be naturally desirous to know something of his public and his private life.

*

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