gn, sent through Macaulay a thrill, like
that which the thought of Paris and its heroisms moves in the great poet
of France, or sight of the dear city of the Violet Crown moved in an
Athenian of old. Thus habitually, with all sincerity of heart, to offer
to one of the greater popular prepossessions the incense due to any
other idol of superstition, sacred and of indisputable authority, and to
let this adoration be seen shining in every page, is one of the keys
that every man must find, who would make a quick and sure way into the
temple of contemporary fame.

It is one of the first things to be said about Macaulay, that he was in
exact accord with the common average sentiment of his day on every
subject on which he spoke. His superiority was not of that highest kind
which leads a man to march in thought on the outside margin of the
crowd, watching them, sympathising with them, hoping for them, but
apart. Macaulay was one of the middle-class crowd in his heart, and only
rose above it by splendid attainments and extraordinary gifts of
expression. He had none of that ambition which inflames some hardy men,
to make new beliefs and new passions enter the minds of their
neighbours; his ascendency is due to literary pomp, not to fecundity of
spirit. No one has ever surpassed him in the art of combining resolute
and ostentatious common sense of a slightly coarse sort in choosing his
point of view, with so considerable an appearance of dignity and
elevation in setting it forth and impressing it upon others. The
elaborateness of his style is very likely to mislead people into
imagining for him a corresponding elaborateness of thought and
sentiment. On the contrary, Macaulay's mind was really very simple,
strait, and with as few notes in its register, to borrow a phrase from
the language of vocal compass, as there are few notes, though they are
very loud, in the register of his written prose. When we look more
closely into it, what at first wore the air of dignity and elevation, in
truth rather disagreeably resembles the narrow assurance of a man who
knows that he has with him the great battalions of public opinion. We
are always quite sure that if Macaulay had been an Athenian citizen
towards the ninety-fifth Olympiad, he would have taken sides with Anytus
and Meletus in the impeachment of Socrates. A popular author must, in a
thorough-going way, take the accepted maxims for granted. He must
suppress any whimsical fancy for apply